Out of My Life
by fflight
Summary: Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and she wishes that he never came into her life. But sooner or later Kate has to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get him out of her life. Full summary inside.
1. Back Home

**Out of My life, Chapter 1 – Back Home**

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and wishes that he never came into it. But Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so do everything else in the Potterverse.

"DAMN YOU, BLACK!" Caitlyn (Kate) Brink screamed at the tall, handsome, gray-eyed boy, who's usually jet-black hair was now a frighteningly vibrant shade of pink.

"DAMN ME? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT MADE MY HAIR PINK!" Sirius Black bellowed in return, his fists clenched and his body language simply emanating fury.

"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GAVE ME BUNNY EARS!" Kate snarled, two furry white and pink rabbit ears sticking up on her head.  
>"AND YOU GAVE ME A BLOODY NOSE, TOO!" Sirius roared, jabbing his finger towards the indeed bloody and smashed nose.<p>

"I'LL MAKE THE REST OF YOUR FACE BLOODY TOO IF YOU DON'T—"

"Stop arguing! You're both giving me a migraine!" Lily Evans snapped to the two from her Charms essay, interrupting Kate's retort.

"You mean Black's giving you a migraine, like he gives everybody, since he's a right git—"  
>"If I give people migraines, then you must make their heads implode!" Sirius cut in, smirking.<p>

"Yeah? Then how come your head hasn't already?" Kate quipped, crossing her arms and glaring viciously at the inferior being.

"You make it sound like you care," Sirius shot back, his smirk growing larger by every word he said, mockingly giving his arch nemesis googly eyes.

"I only wished it _had_ imploded," Kate hissed, her amber eyes blazing.

"As much as I agree with Kate's sentiments," Lily began, stopping Sirius' sharp remark, "I'm going to warn both of you to shut up before I give you both detention." She had stood up from her place at one of the tables in the large Common Room.

"You traitor!" Kate gasped, mockingly clutching at her neck and heart. The two best friends grinned at each other for a moment.  
>"You're going to abuse your prefect privileges now, are you?" Sirius accused of the redhead, still not finished with his verbal attack.<p>

"Hey, are you badmouthing my Lilykins, Padfoot?" James Potter grinned mischievously at Sirius, getting down from the boys' dormitory and into the Gryffindor Common Room. His hair was as disheveled as always, which was the effect he always wanted to create. He curved his arm around Lily's waist as Sirius rolled his eyes at James' comment, his eyes twinkling. Lily's eyes narrowed and her face flushed a deep shade of crimson, though Kate wasn't sure whether it was from anger or embarrassment. "Get away from me, Potter!" The prefect half yelped half growled, stepping far away from the boy and to Kate's side.

"No, don't leave me, my Lilyflower!" James howled dramatically, falling to the carpeted floor and groveling at Lily's feet. Kate snorted with laughter as Lily looked down at him, positively disgusted.

"Don't call me that, you dunce," she snapped. James opened his mouth to say something clever back, but she beat him to it. "Or Lilykins. Or any other… endearing names you have for me." Lily choked on the word "endearing".

Kate burst out laughing, and Sirius patted his disappointed friend on the back, when Emmalyn, or rather Emmy Parsons trudged sleepily down the stairs, her beautiful honey blonde hair messy and her dark blue eyes tired but annoyed.

"You woke me up with all that yelling," she complained. She was definitely not a morning person.

"Sorry, Emmy," Kate apologized, going forwards to greet her Hogwarts uniform-clad best friend.

Emmy looked at her in exasperation. "Honestly will there ever be a time when you two aren't in the same room without trying to blow each other's head off?"

Kate exchanged a look with Lily, both of them remembering the fight and Sirius' comments on Kate making heads implode, and giggled, quite idiotically.  
>"No," Kate said finally, in response to Emmy's question, looking serious.<p>

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Thought so." Emmy glanced at Sirius and James, who were sitting with the rest of the Marauders (both of whom had come down to the Common Room) on a couch, discussing their next prank on the Slytherins.

"Well, should we be getting to breakfast, then? The first of our days as fifth years?" Lily smiled brightly at both of them.

"Or your days as a prefect?" Emmy suggested to the redhead, who laughed a little.

"We should, dear Lilykins," Kate said with a straight face. Lily rolled her eyes at her friend, before the three of them linked arms and headed out the door. "Oh, and your hair's a mess, Em," she told Emmy.

"Don't care, never will," came the reply from next to her. Kate shot her a grin. That was one of the many things she loved about Emmy- though she was blonde, blue-eyed, and absolutely beautiful in every way, Emmy didn't give a shit to what others thought of her, and did whatever she wanted to her appearance. If her hair was messy that day, so be it. If her hair was glossy and wavy that day, nobody would argue with her.

When they got to the Great Hall, they say people from all the four different houses laughing and hugging (or shouting at) their friends (or enemies) that they hadn't seen over the summer or on the train.

Emmy smiled serenely as she took in the scene before her. "We're home, aren't we?"  
>Kate and Lily readily agreed; Hogwarts had really become their second home. Or, in Kate's case, her real home. Said dark-haired girl grinned and took a deep sniff of the Great Hall. "Smells like home, too," she smirked. Lily and Emmy chuckled, thinking of Kate's incredible talent for stuffing down food for longer than anyone thought possible. Lily said that it was because of a fast metabolism.<p>

The trio sat down with Selena and Serena, who were both dirty blonde twins that were so in sync with one another that they even finished each other's sentences. Kate and Emmy struck up a conversation with the twins on Professor Slughorn's new club, the Slug Club, while Lily went off to visit some of her friends in Ravenclaw. A bit later, Emmy left as well to see some of her Hufflepuff friends, which was when James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew decided to sit next to Kate, Serena and Selena.

Kate only greeted Remus – we was the only one she found decent in the group. Well, she supposed Peter was okay, but the short, chubby, pimpled boy slightly creeped her out. "Hey, Remus. What're you doing here?" She saw the werewolf (yes, she knew about it, and had heard him talking about it with the Marauders in their third year) begin to reply when Sirius said, "We decided to sit here today. Got a problem, Brink?"

She saw a flash of annoyance cross Remus' face and couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. "Actually, yes. You're only going to irritate and infuriate me, and if you are, I'd rather you go sit at the other end of the table," Kate returned coldly.

"All the more reason to sit here, then," Sirius smirked, plopping himself down next to her. "What, are you afraid of me?"

Kate snorted derisively. "I wouldn't bother to bat an eyelash at the likes of you, Black," she told him, and started to butter her scone.

"I think you've batted quite a few eyelashes during the times we've known each other, don't you?" Sirius replied effortlessly.

Kate faked a huge gasp, and stood up at the Gryffindor table, and everyone looked at her, including Serena and Selena, who had been watching her and Sirius' exchange, amused. "Did any of you hear that?" She asked her fellow students, rather loudly. "Sirius Black managed to _think_! Even if what he was thinking was rather imbecilic and stupid, it doesn't matter; he actually _thought_!" Kate sat back down, satisfied by the laughter of most of the students- mainly boys- and the absolutely furious look on Sirius's face. "Why you—" he began angrily, but Emmy came up from behind them.

"Honestly, Kate! I leave for what, five minutes? And you've already gotten yourself in another argument!"  
>Kate raised an eyebrow at her friend. "What are you, the peace keeper?"<br>"Well, when it comes down to you two, it sure seems like I have to be," Emmy said sternly, but without a trace of a smile on her lips.

"I think you should be a Gryffindor prefect, like Lily, since you tell everybody off if they so much as insult someone."  
>"My Muggle Studies, Potions, and Ancient Runes grades aren't the best, you know, and you have to get at least two O's and five E's for you to be a prefect," the blonde pointed out.<p>

"That's not fair, though!" Kate exclaimed, her argument with Sirius forgotten. "I mean, your Arithmancy grades are excellent, and so are your Charms and Divination grades!"

"That doesn't mean I deserve to be prefect though," Emmy replied, only a bit put out that she didn't get chosen as a prefect this year.

"The inequity of it all! The villainy! I'll start a rebellion!" Kate cried, perhaps a bit too dramatically.

"Shut up," Lily rolled her eyes, having come back from the Ravenclaw table. "Trust me, Emmy, you don't want to be patrolling the corridors of this huge castle they call Hogwarts when you could be getting your homework done and sleeping early."  
>"Exactly. Kate, don't campaign against Dumbledore and the rest of the Board just because I didn't get made a prefect," Emmy told her friend firmly.<p>

Kate snorted. "Imagine the looks they would have on their faces if I did, though, rampaging around the school with my supporters, holding up banners that said "STOP TREASON AGAINST EMMY PARSONS! SHE DESERVES TO BE A PREFECT!" while you two hand out pamphlets, badges, and stickers to whoever that'd listen."

The three girls paused for a bit, trying to imagine that, and then erupted into laughter.

A little ways away, Peter looked at Kate and her friends, shaking his head. "Women. They'll never be understood by the males."

James nudged Sirius, and muttered under his breath, "True words, but Wormtail barely understands anything."  
>Sirius would have laughed if he weren't furious about Kate. "I can't believe she did that," he growled angrily. "She yelled that in front of the whole school."<p>

"It's not like it's never happened to you before, Sirius," Remus said to his friend. "She's embarrassed you before."  
>"I know that, and that's what's so sickening!" Sirius muttered. "I need to get back at her. You know what we should do?" He finally looked up, smirking evilly. "This is what we're going to do."<p>

When he finished speaking, even James looked surprised. "That's a bit thick, don't you think?"  
>"Of course not. This is Kate Brink we're talking about," Sirius reminded them, and the four boys steeled themselves, ridding themselves of any sympathy. It was a known fact among the Marauders that in order for a prank to go properly, you couldn't have any compassion for the victim. They proceeded to perfect their plan.<p>

**This is the first Harry Potter fanfic I've ever started on, so I really hope that you'll give me a lot of good criticism and praise. Don't go on and on about how fucking retarded I am and how I should seriously get a life instead of writing horrible stories, however. Actually tell me how I can fix it: The beginning? The characters? Dialogue? Details? Plot?**

**Also, if you have any suggestions of character ideas, please tell me! ^^**

**Review Review Review!**

**Post vale, memento mei**

**Fflight**


	2. The Prank

**Out of My Life, Chapter 2 – The Prank **

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life. But what will happen after the dreadful day that they are paired together for a Christmas holiday Potions assignment? Full summary inside.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But even Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so do everything else in the Potterverse.

The underwear and bra flew into the window of the Marauders' dormitory, and dropped themselves at Remus' feet. "Ah, Moony. You're absolutely brilliant," grinned Sirius picking the underwear up. He gave them a look. They were black and red. And matched the bra. Which was _lacy_. He raised an eyebrow, while James laughed slightly from his bed. "I never knew Brink wore lace," he smirked, and Sirius returned the evil smile.

"Well, the entire school will now, as long as they pass the entrance hall," Sirius grinned again. "Oh, revenge is sweet." 

Remus rolled his eyes as Peter's eyes bulged at the rather revealing bra and underwear, and stood up, saying "_Locomotor_" as he went, flicking his wand. The two articles of clothing floated up in the air. "Come on, we've got to get these…" Remus gestured vaguely with his hands in an effort to demonstrate his meaning, "Um, pieces of clothing to the entrance hall."

"You got it, mate," Sirius said, standing as well and making his way to the door.

The four Marauders, in single file, moved along the wall towards their target. James and Remus, who were behind Sirius, held the Marauder's Map in their hands, alerting Sirius whenever there was a person nearby or if Filch was walking around them. Peter kept an eye at the back of the group, while Sirius lead his friends, successfully, to the entrance hall.

"Right. Wormtail, keep an eye on the map, will you? Don't want good ole Argy coming around." Sirius gave the nervous boy a clap on the shoulder and went to join James and Remus. James was putting the Extra-Sticky Wiz-Glue on the note that Sirius wrote on, and Remus was busy putting the same glue on the hooks that they had brought with them. Remus finished and Sirius quickly muttered, "_Wingardium_ _Leviosa_." The hooks floated up to the top of ceiling, while Remus put some Invisi-rope over the hook, then tied it to the bra and panties. Miss Brink would be in for a surprise the next morning.

And, indeed, there was a lot of laughing, gasps, shouts, and whispers when Kate went down to the Entrance Hall that was connected to the Great Hall and, therefore, breakfast. Kate exchanged a bewildered look with Lily and Emmy. She had no idea what was going on, but there was an unexplainable sick feeling in her stomach. She stepped towards the crowd of people gathering around some object in the center of the Hall. When people noticed her, the amount of laughing and shouting increased. "What the hell is going on?" Kate muttered to her friends, who shrugged, just as confused.  
>"Had a good shag last night, then, Brink?" A voice called out from the crowd. Kate's face flushed a deep scarlet, and she strode forward, pushing people aside, so she could see just what was <em>so<em> interesting.

Her jaw dropped. Literally. She swore she could hear the _thud_ of it as it hit the floor. There they were, her black and red lace bra and panties, dangling in the middle of the Entrance Hall. Kate's face was so red she could have compared it to Lily's flame red hair.

Speaking of Lily. Said redhead and Emmy managed to make their way through the crowd to Kate, and their mouths gaped as well. There was momentary silence from the three of them. "I'M GOING TO KILL WHOEVER DID THIS!" Kate roared, and the entire crowd jumped.

"Kate, look, there's a note," Lily said quietly, pulling the ripped piece of parchment from the Invisi-rope towards them. 

_Courtesy of Sirius Black _

Kate's golden amber eyes flashed with fire, and she screamed "_Diffindo!"_ At the invisible string, which promptly broke in half. "_Confringo!_" She then raged on, making the bra set burst into flames and then quickly be reduced to ash.

"Aw, I liked that set!" A boy's voice mockingly called out, but with a withering glare from Kate he instantly stopped laughing, and ended up with a blistered face. Turning her attention from him, Kate searched the crowd for the culprit, and they darkened when she saw a flash of gray eyes disappear behind a tall girl at the back. She marched forward, flung the girl (who her mind barely registered as Anna Abbott from Transfiguration) aside and jabbed her hawthorn and chimera scale core wand at Sirius' throat. "Give me a good reason not to do what you know I'm about to do," Kate hissed dangerously at Sirius.

"Because I'm pretty?" Sirius asked innocently, and James laughed.

"It's not funny, Potter," Lily snapped, which instantly shut him up.

Kate growled, and put down her wand, as if turning to go, only to whip around, punching Sirius in the face with her free hand.  
>"Ow! What the hell was that for, Brink?" Sirius yelled, clutching at his bleeding nose and eyelid.<p>

"For being a bloody bastard! Now fuck off!" Kate shrieked, and stormed into the Great Hall.

Lily ran after her to comfort her friend, and Emmy shot Sirius the dirtiest look she could muster. "Asshole," she snarled at him, and sprinted swiftly after her friends.

"Now everyone thinks I slept with Black," Kate moaned into Lily's shoulder, and Emmy gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Why would people think you slept with Black? Except Torrence, that is," Lily amended, remembering the 5th year Hufflepuff who had called out first.

"Why else would he have my underwear?" Kate scowled, and her face twisted into a frown. "I knew Black was low, but I didn't know he was _that_ low." 

Just then, a brunette 6th-year and her friends passed the three girls. "Slut," she hissed at Kate, and Emmy's head snapped up, her crystal blue eyes glaring straight into the brunette's hazel ones.

"Piss off, bitch," Emmy hissed, her hand tightening on her wand, and looking at each other in amusement, the clique tittered and moved away, leaving the blonde looking like she wanted to curse the brunette's arms and legs off her body.

"You don't have to, Em," Kate murmured wearily. Emmy glanced sideways at her best friend.

"Don't care, never will," she replied easily, and a soft smile touched Kate's lips for a second before it left quickly.

"Well, eat some rolls or toast then," Lily said after a while, taking some pastries and passing them to Kate. The girl looked at the food, feeling sick.

"I don't feel like eating."

"You've got to eat _something_," Emmy protested, smearing jam and butter on the scone for her.

"I'm not hungry."

Lily paused, frowning, before an evil smile touched her features. Emmy looked warily at her redheaded friend. "What are you thinking about, Lily?" She asked cautiously.

Lily ignored Emmy and looked at Kate with a grin. "Look at me, Kate," she commanded in a tone that made Kate obey her words immediately. When Lily Evans said something like that, you had to listen to her. Or you'd be hexed into next Friday if you didn't. "I have something that would cheer you up," Lily smiled brightly.

"Yeah? Like what?" Kate asked, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Revenge. Something that would be a stick in Black's ass for the rest of his life." Lily's green eyes were glowing in pride and mischief.

Emmy and Kate stared. "Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?" Kate asked slowly, the first to break the silence. 

Lily gave Kate a mocking hurt look. "What?"

"Well, first of all, the Lily we know doesn't swear. And she definitely doesn't believe in—" Emmy was cut off.

"In sweet revenge? I _do_ have my moments." Lily smirked at the two of them.

Kate threw herself at her best friend and gave her a huge bear hug. "I still don't know what happened to the old Lily, but I love this new one. Can we keep her?" She asked Lily, amber eyes huge and pleading.

Lily and Emmy laughed. "Yes, dear, but you have to look after it, alright?" Emmy faked the tone of a stern mother speaking to her child, and Kate let out a giggle.

Lily mockingly glared at Emmy. "I don't need to be looked after," she snapped, but amusement shone in her eyes.

Emmy grinned. "True. You'd all hex us into oblivion, like you did with Potter the other day." 

"Speak of the devil," Kate rolled her eyes as James appeared behind the girls.

"I heard my name. Was it from you, Lilykins?" He smirked at Lily, who flushed red with anger.

"Good God, Potter, do you have the hearing of a bat?" Emmy's eyes widened incredulously.

"He certainly is batty," Kate muttered, which earned a laugh from Lily. James looked wounded. Unfortunately, with James came Sirius, and the rest of the Marauders. Kate glared at all of them, but she gave Sirius the last and coldest one.

"Go _away_," Lily scowled at them. "Nobody wants you here." 

"But _you_ do," James smiled widely, his perfect teeth showing as he waggled his eyebrows at his not so secret "love".

"Go boil your head in a cauldron and stick it in a hippogriff's bottom," Lily replied coolly, sounding as if she was speaking of the weather, but there was a detectable venom behind her tone. Kate grinned slightly, imagining that image, and Emmy had to clamp her jaws down on her tongue to keep herself from bursting out in laughter.

After a couple more banters, James finally left. But before Sirius followed his friends, he turned and winked at Kate. "Glad you liked it, love," he smirked, before he swiveled back around and sauntered to the other end of the table. There was a stunned silence, and then Kate's face was redder than Lily's hair and her amber eyes were as fiery as her stuffed cats' body when she accidentally set it on fire.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Kate's wand was out in a second, and a purple light sped after the black-haired boy, hitting him in the back. Sirius' toenails began to grow at an alarming rate, bursting out of his loafers and continuing to grow. He turned around, fury etched in his features.

"You're going down, Brink!" He shouted, and shot a bat-bogey hex at her, which she deflected.

"_Furnunculus!"_ The blazing red hex, aimed at Sirius' face, almost hit its target but he ducked just in time.

"_Rictusempra!"_

Kate suddenly burst out laughing, squirming against her will, as if imaginary hands were tickling her.

Through her giggles she managed a "_Tarantellegra!" _which made Sirius' legs dance a jig on their own, and Sirius found that he couldn't aim right.

"Stop this nonsense this instant!" Came the enraged voice of Professor McGonagall.

Kate tried shut up, and failed miserably, letting out snorts and gurgles through her tightly clenched teeth. Sirius tried to stop moving, but ended up doing a strange, staggering dance in circles. McGonagall sighed and pointed her wand at each of them, causing the tickling to stop and letting Sirius regain control of his legs.

"Mr. Black, I should have known. Miss Brink, I would have expected better of you." McGonagall looked disappointed as she kept her cold black eyes on both of them. "You both have Saturday detentions for a month, at 8:00pm."

"NO!" Kate, Sirius, and James all shouted at the same time. Lily and Emmy looked curiously at Kate. Why wouldn't she be okay with Saturday? Sure, it was _detention_, but Kate never fought against a detention, for fear of more.

"And, may I ask, why is that?" McGonagall's voice, if possible, became colder.

"Er, because quidditch tryouts are next Saturday, and Sirius needs to try out, since we're re-assigning this year," James explained awkwardly, and Sirius nodded fervently.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow but turned to Kate. "And what is your reason, Miss Brink?"

"Erm… I… ah… I sort of wanted to try out for quidditch as well…" Kate looked a bit nervous and sheepish. 

There was silence, where Lily and Emmy stared at her with absolute shock. Suddenly, James and Sirius burst out in hysterics. Kate's face flooded with heat and she glared at the two. "Are you _laughing_ at me?" She demanded, her voice a bit shriller than normal.

A bit later, the two boys calmed down and Sirius nodded in affirmation. "Yes, we are. There is _no way_ you're a good quidditch player."

Kate's eyes flashed. "For your information, I've been playing since I was seven, thank you very much," she snapped.

Sirius grinned. "No problem, love."

Kate emitted a growl, and opened her mouth to say something when McGonagall spoke again, her face positively purple by now. "Enough! If you speak again you'll receive another month of Saturday detentions!" She screeched at the students, who instantly quieted. "Now, I understand the importance of quidditch to you, but I'm sure that discipline is more crucial to your learning than a sport where you fly around and bash people while throwing balls through hoops."

Even with her words the students knew how the elderly professor loved quidditch, and encouraged the Gryffindor team very much. Or tried to be as encouraging as the stiff teacher could get. "Go back to your breakfasts, please. Oh, and extra Friday detentions for a month for you, Mr. Black. Don't think I didn't know what you did." McGonagall then swept out of the Great Hall, which left the entire Hall whispering and talking.

Kate sighed and returned to her seat with Lily and Emmy. "Quidditch tryouts, Kate? Really?" Emmy looked at Kate with a raised 'brow. "I thought you loathed the sport."

"I don't loath the sport, Emmy," Kate corrected. "I loath the two Captains of our quidditch team." 

"Are you any good at it?" Lily asked, scooping some muesli into her mouth.

Kate shrugged. "Spence says I am, but I don't know whether he's just saying that to make me feel good." Spencer Minz was her older cousin on her mother's side, who had graduated from Hogwarts last year. He now worked for the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. Kate had been close to him, and they had always secretly playing quidditch in their backyard, when their mother wasn't home.

Emmy sighed. "Guess you could always try next year," she told Kate. "I'm sure you'd make it." She reached for a bowl of melon.

Kate shrugged again, and looked at Lily who was still drinking her soybean milk and shoving muesli in her mouth, then Emmy who was eating her fruit salad. Kate glanced down at her food- scones, bacon, eggs, sausages, and a glass of orange juice. "Why do you two eat so healthy yet so disgusting food?" She asked, a bit forlornly.

Lily and Emmy looked at each other and laughed. "Want some muesli, Kate?"

"Some dragon fruit, maybe?"

Kate's expression was one of repulsion. "No, thanks. I'll stick with my _real_ food."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Your _real _food is going to clog up your arteries and then give you a heart attack, Kate."

Emmy grinned. "We'll be fit and slim when we're sixty, and you'll be all flabby."

Kate looked affronted. "Hey! I exercise more than you two do." In fact, she did. She horseback rode and played rugby.

"That doesn't mean you'll survive a cardio failure," Lily replied, her lips twitching.

Kate glanced at Lily, then at Emmy, then back to Lily, then to her food. "Oh, fine," she growled, snatching up a banana and some strawberries.

Charms would have been fun, if it weren't for a certain Marauder being in Kate's class. Well, Remus was there too, but he was all right. Emmy was there, though, so that made the burden slightly lighter. That didn't mean that Kate was very happy about it.

"Hey, Em, you wanna be—" Kate was asking Emmy to be her partner for the charm they were working on, but a tall boy with sandy brown hair and deep, hazel eyes caught Emmy's attention as he made his way to the two.

Emmy's eyes grew wide. "Oh my God, that's Fabian Prewett!" She had always had a secret crush on him. "And he's coming over here!" She looked at Kate helplessly. "What do I do?"

Kate raised an eyebrow. She never understood her nervousness around the boy, or any other boy. "Just… be yourself, I guess."

Emmy opened her mouth to say something else but Fabian interrupted her, grinning widely. "Hey, Parsons. You wanna be my partner? Gid's off with his girlfriend Mina." Gideon Prewett was his brother.

Emmy's eyes grew wider, and her jaw dropped, but she quickly closed it. "Uh, erm, I…" She was at loss for words.

Kate rolled her eyes. "She'll be your partner." She pushed her friend forward, hiding her slight disappointment that Emmy would rather be Fabian's partner than hers. Remus suddenly walked up to her.

"Hey, Kate."

She dark haired girl looked up, and beamed. "Hi, Remus," Kate smiled at the werewolf.

"Er… Sirius' got another partner, so I was wondering if you'd work with me?" Remus' face was bright red.

Kate raised both her eyebrows now, and looked around for Sirius. When she found him he was flirting crazily with a platinum blonde girl, and she frowned, but turned back to Remus with a bright smile. "Sure!" Maybe she'd get a better grade with him- Charms wasn't always her best subject.

Flitwick cleared his throat and the class quieted down. "Has everyone got partners?" He squeaked. Almost simultaneously, the entire class nodded. "Good. Open your books to page 20, please. The Confundus Charm, which I'm sure you've all heard of. I'll give you five minutes to read it." 

Kate flipped to the page hastily, and out of the corner of her eye she saw that Remus was already at the page. She scanned it quickly, using her quill to practice the wand movements. "Swish, flick, flick," she muttered under her breath.

"Right! Now, we'll be practicing on our partners, and taking turns. The younger person will practice first," the tiny professor said, and went straight to his paperwork.

Kate turned to Remus. "Er, what's your birthday?"

"10th of March, 1960," he said. "Yours?"

"April 13th, 1960," Kate smirked. "Prepared to be Confunded." She pointed her 11-inch wand at Remus' face. "_Confundus_." The light-brown haired boy's eyes misted over, and he looked confused as he stared blankly at Kate. She flicked her wand towards Emmy, and he tapped her shoulder, making her friend look up.

"Er, hi, Remus," she looked confused, her expression similar to Fabian's next to her (he was Confunded).

Remus shrugged and his tongue lolled out of his mouth, making Emmy look slightly scared. "Er, Remus?" It was only then that she noticed his blank stare. Remus was never blank. She looked around for his partner and saw Kate concentrating hard. Emmy grinned, and Kate flicked her wand again. Remus grinned stupidly and walked over to Sirius, bumping into him when Kate lost slight control.

"Oh, hullo, Moony," Sirius grinned cheerfully. When Remus didn't answer and instead chortled dumbly, Sirius looked slightly worried. "Er, Moony?" He glanced at his friend's table, and spotted Kate. His eyes narrowed. "Hey Brink! Stop it!" He shouted, startling her and Remus, making her end the spell and bringing the werewolf into consciousness. Remus looked confused as he stared at Sirius.

"Why am I here?"

Kate ignored him. "You made me lose concentration, you twit! And I was _supposed_ to Confund him!" She snapped viciously, and Sirius gave her a lazy smirk.

"I do have that effect on people," he drawled, and Kate resisted the urge to punch him again, and instead gave Remus her best grin.

He still looked slightly confused. "Er, what did I do?"

"Well, you tapped Emmy on the shoulder, shrugged at her and drooled, then made your way to Sirius and bumped into him," Kate ticked them off on her fingers. At the mention of Emmy's name Remus' face flushed pink, his face taking on an expression of slight mortification, and Kate raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling me, Remmy?" She asked him, hiding a smile at his obvious embarrassment.

"No," Remus said stiffly, and grabbed Kate's wrist, leading her back to their seat. "It's my turn."

Kate made fun of him on the way back anyway.

Sirius stared after Remus and Kate as they made their way back to the front of the class, Kate teasing him about Emmy all the way. For some reason, he felt of pang of annoyance. Confused, he tried to figure out why. _It must be because Brink's annoying a Marauder_, Sirius resolved. _After all, I—_

Someone tapping on his shoulder cut off his train of thought, and Sirius looked up. Arianne Foxxe was gazing at him accusingly. "Why are you staring at the Brink girl like that?" She snapped.

Sirius was honestly confused. "Like what?"  
>Adrianne gave him a look of exasperation. "Like you fancy her."<br>Sirius scoffed, but something in him gave a twinge of doubt. "I do not fancy her. Come on, let's do this assignment." One look from his alluring gray eyes and he knew he had got her, like he did every time.

The blonde giggled slightly. "Okay."

Sirius pointed his wand at her. "_Confundo_."

**Okay! Filler chapter, mostly, with a bit of hints at Sirius' attraction, and a bit of a suggestion of Kate being on the quidditch team. Fragment sentence right there! Whatever. ANYWAY, sorry for the long wait, and I'll try to post something within the next two weeks. Here's a bit of a preview/teaser:**

"_Well, for one, you're staring at her more, without looking like you want to rip her head off," he pointed out, and James nodded his agreement._

_Sirius rolled his eyes and glared at his friend. "I _always_ want to rip her head off," he snapped._

"_And you talk about her more," James added, smirking. "Admit it, Paddy."  
><em>

"_Only to complain or curse her," Sirius insisted, ignoring the second comment. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."_

**There you go! How'd you guys think of this chapter, by the way? Last time I checked I only had one review… please, please, guys, review! It makes me feel warm and fuzzy, and it makes me feel like writing. So I can update sooner! **

**Post vale memento mei,**

**Fflight **


	3. Revenge, Part 1

**Out of My Life, Chapter 3 – Revenge, Part 1**

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and she wishes that he never came into her life. But sooner or later Kate has to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get him out of her life. Full summary inside.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But even Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so do everything else in the Potterverse.

* * *

><p>The Marauders were staring at Kate, Lily, Emmy, and one of their friends Alice Haden, who were hunched over something in front of the fireplace. The boys sat across the Gryffindor common room from them, their eyes boring into the girls' backs, trying to determine what they were discussing so intently. "They're planning something," Sirius declared finally. "They're planning a prank.'<p>

James snapped out of his dreamy gaze, obviously directed at Lily, and nodded in agreement. "And we would know best, Padfoot," he grinned proudly.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You sound like that's a good thing," he scolded, but not without a glint of amusement in his eyes.

Peter looked confused. "But you do everything with us too, Moony, and you don't think it's bad," he pointed out, looking like he thought he said something important.

"I know. I was kidding, Wormy," Remus explained gently, and James snorted.

"Honestly, Wormtail—"

"Will you guys just shut up?" Sirius cut in, sounding annoyed. "It looks serious. Even Lily's involved in it, which makes it dangerous since she's so studious and everything, because that means she won't let anybody mess it up, so it's bound to be successful. It might even be a Class D," the Gryffindor beater told his friends, looking somber.

Even James looked worried. "A Class D? Really?"

The Marauders had made a classification system for pranks, regardless of who it was done by, from 'Class A' as least bad to 'Class E', any devastating prank. To remind them of those categories there was a piece of parchment attached to the wall of their room, listing them.

**Class A: Not made to seriously injure or humiliate, really just to poke fun, and is usually done between friends as a joke. These are for beginners. **

**Class B: Has more meaning behind it, is more powerful, but it is still considered an 'easy' prank to do, though you do have to worry some about it. A manageable prank.**

**Class C: Powerful. The 'average' prank, with hard spellwork and well-planned procedure. This can get pretty serious, and could take a while to recover from.**

**Class D: Very dangerous, used (usually) for revenge, complicated spellwork, and if not done right could cause serious consequences. You **_**must **_**watch out for this. **

**Class E: Extremely deadly and could even be 'fatal'. Definitely recommended as a regular prank; sometimes, it is not considered a prank at all.**

"Really. I think I may have pushed her too far this time," Sirius murmured, fiddling with the eagle feather attached to her quill.

James, Remus, and even Peter stared. "Er, since when did you care about pushing Brink too far, Padfoot?" Remus asked as casually as he could, not surprisingly the first to recover.

Sirius' eyes flickered with surprise for a moment before he glared at the werewolf. "I don't. I never said I did," he growled, sounding like a dog defending its territory.

Peter looked confused, once more. "Well, you just said that—" he protested, his pimply forehead scrunching up in a frown.

"I don't care, alright? Just get off my back!" Sirius hissed savagely, standing up abruptly and stalking out of the painting entrance of the common room.

"He looks like Kate when he does that… but, you know, without taking his stuff with him…" Peter stared at the parchment, books, and quill Sirius had left behind.

Ignoring Peter (and wisely doing so), Remus looked around at the rest of his friends. "He's in denial, Marauders."

"Yeah. But the question is, why?" James tried to sound philosophical, and failed miserably.

Remus rolled his eyes for the second time. "It's obvious, Prongs," he told James in exasperation, tired of his friend's obliviousness.

"Well, why? Don't be all mysterious about it," James retorted.

Remus sighed at his apparent cluelessness. "Padfoot has a crush on Kate."

* * *

><p>Kate, Lily, Emmy, and Alice giggled over the parchment giving the finer details of their plan to strike Sirius (and the Marauders) back. "No, Lissy, that wouldn't work," Emmy shook her head towards Alice, a petite fifth year with short, spiky black hair and warm, hazel eyes.<p>

Lily looked surprised, something that does not happen normally. "You know when Remus is at the library?"

Emmy flushed bright red. "Er, I usually go to the library then, too," she replied quickly, and shook her head fervently. "It's nothing," she insisted at their doubtful looks, though she seemed to be telling it to herself more than anyone else. Kate, Lily, an alice exchanged meaningful looks before they decided to let Emmy off on this one.

"Anyway. So, should we stick with plan 2.3, then?" Lily asked, to change the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Sure," Kate smirked, and Alice laughed her bell-like laugh.

"Black will never know what hit him," Alice smiled.

"Or will just be encouraged to do worse," Kate added morosely. "It actually sounds more like him."

"Oh, don't be so pessimistic," Alice protested, pushing the amber-eyed girl playfully.

"Don't be so optimistic," Kate shot back, grinning widely now, and the short little girl laughed again.

Just then, Sirius stood up from where he sat from the armchair on the other side of the common room, and marched out in a huff.

The girls turned around to stare at him.

"What's got _his_ knickers in a knot?" Kate wondered aloud, snorting derisively.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know," Emmy smirked again at Kate, remembering the reason for their revenge. Kate glared daggers at her, and Emmy put her hands up next to her head in a surrendering gesture. "Woah, calm down, I was kidding," she smiled nervously.

Kate's eyes softened and she nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

There was another uncomfortable silence, and then Lily cleared her throat, breaking it. "Um, yeah. So there's one more thing about this prank that we still need… we need to know what shampoo Black uses." Lily looked up from writing on the parchment and glanced at each of them. "So I was thinking – and I know none of you will like this, but I think it'd be the best way – that we should pretend to be one of his fangirls." This was met by an uproar among the group.

"I will _not_ be a _fangirl_ of _Black_, even if I _am _pretending. I won't even fake fawning over the sick bastard," Kate spat quietly but viciously.

"He'll recognize us right away!" Alice exclaimed, or said as loud as her whisper would allow.

"Can't we… I don't know, bribe the actual fangirls?" Emmy pleaded, not looking very please at all with the idea of 'loving' Sirius Black.

Lily raised her voice, losing her patience. "Good Lord! Shut up, all of you! I'll _explain_, you know I always do, so just listen, alright?" The ginger whispered fiercely, glowering at the three of them. When the three calmed down and sat back, staring at her expectantly, she continued with a deep breath. "Kate, you have to admit that it's a good idea. He won't suspect anything, and it's also a really typical thing for a fangirl to ask! It's the perfect disguise. It doesn't even have to be you who will pretend to be the fangirl.

Liss, girl, I can always use that transfiguration charm I know to change our features. I know it's a sixth year spell but I've been practicing it a lot.

Emmy, we can't bribe them and you know it. They're the biggest flirts, gossips, and news-spreaders in the school, which means they have a huge mouth and will give information without much thought. And if word gets out, we might as well say goodbye to the plan we spent all our free periods working on." Lily finished and sat back, crossing her arms, looking pleased with her argument, like she knew she had won.

Kate muttered mutinously under her breath, Emmy sighed, and Alice smiled. "You're right, of course. But who's going to do it? Well, which two or three are going to, since just one fangirls would be too unusual.'

"Not me. Definitely no me," Kate stated firmly right after Alice had said that. "I'd rather take the Cruciatus Curse."

"You're right. It shouldn't be you. You'd be too caught up in your emotions that you wouldn't be able to act. No, I think hat the actresses should be Emmy and Alice. Kate and I will distract Sirius as they escape."

"What? Why do Alice and I have to do it? Why can't someone else?" Emmy complained, sitting straight up in her sat.

"Because Black doesn't know you or Alice as well, and because her acting sucks," Lily replied bluntly. "Trust me, I have it all worked out."

"Thanks," Kate said sarcastically.

"What, would you rather make goo-goo eyes at Black?" Lily responded easily, making Kate huff angrily. When nobody said anything she sighed. "Sorry, Kate, honestly. But seriously, if you all follow the plan and do _exactly_ as I say, we'll kick Black's ass all the way to China."

The girls all laughed at Lily swearing.

Lily cracked a smile as well, and raised her hand up to silence them for a moment. "We begin phase one, tomorrow."

* * *

><p>The girls had skipped dessert (much to Kate's disappointment) to prepare for "Phase 1". They ran to an unused bathroom, and were greeted by a sobbing ghost of a 13 year old girl.<p>

"AUGH!" Emmy screamed, jumping backwards, and Lily quickly cast "_Muffliato"_ on the bathroom door.

"Jeez, Em! Don't scream like that, do you want other people to hear?" Kate clapped a hand over Emmy's mouth at the same time as Lily when she aimed the charm.

"Got it," she called, and Kate let go of Emmy's face. Emmy glared up at the ghost.

"Who the hell are you?" She snapped angrily, clenching her wand.

The ghost sniffed, and adjusted her glasses. "You don't have to be so rude," she sniffled, and floated backwards, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm Myrtle," Myrtle said, and Lily laughed.

"So you're Moaning Myrtle, then? _The_ Moaning Myrtle? The ghost that people hear wailing?" Lily said eagerly, and Myrtle gasped audibly.

"They call me Moaning Myrtle? _Moaning Myrtle?_ Eeeeeugh!" Myrtle howled, and flung herself into the toilet. Lily looked shocked, and a bit guilty

"Er, I thought she knew…" Lily trailed off, and Kate shrugged.

"Whatever. She throws tantrums like that anyway, all the time," Kate told her in an effort to console her.

"I HEARD THAT!" Came a plaintive cry, and Kate rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something back.

"Let's get to work," Alice interrupted the argument, and Lily smiled gratefully at the short girl.

"Good idea. Ali, Em, come here. I'll work on your face first. Kate, keep looking for the potion ingredients," Lily instructed, and took out her wand.

"Please don't mess up my face, Lils," Emmy looked at Lily imploringly, and the redhead pretended to look hurt.

"Don't you have any faith in my Charms work?" Lily asked, looking mock miserable, and the three laughed.

"That wasn't even funny," Kate muttered from her spot against the wall, sitting next to piles of heavy books. For some reason, this caused the other three girls to laugh even harder. Kate rolled her eyes and flipped a page.

* * *

><p>Eventually Lily, Emmy, and Alice got down to work. Lily pointed her wand at Emmy's face first and flicked her wand at her perfect blonde eyebrows, which turned them slightly thicker and darker, into a beech wood brown. With another couple incantations Emmy's nose was longer and wider, her lips thinner, her jaw more slanted, her eyes a light hazel, and her hair a long, tangled mousy brown.<p>

Lily stepped back and admired her work. "Perfect," she grinned, and Emmy ran to a mirror over a sink, staring horrified at her appearance.

"What have you done to me?" She groaned, putting her hands over her face, tilting her head back. Alice laughed.

"You sound like Moaning Myrtle," she smirked, and Emmy whipped her head around to glare at the happy-go-lucky girl.

"Not funny," she growled, and Alice's grin stretched wider.

"Suck it up, Emmy. Alice, your turn!" Lily pointed her wand at Alice's face, and began to work. Soon, Alice's hair had become longer, stringier, and dirty blonde. Her eyes became an olive green, and her cheekbones became more pronounced, while her face grew longer. Alice's cute little ski-slope nose lengthened and tilted up at the end, and her long eyelashes shortened into tiny little pricks. Alice turned, and ran to the sink like Emmy.

She gasped at the same time as her (actually) blonde friend. "I look so different!"

"You look so much prettier than I do!" Emmy cried at the same time.

Kate and Lily looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Kate crossed the room and high-fived her friend. "You're brilliant, Lils. I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"You love her because she makes her friends look ugly?" Emmy wailed, and the two laughed harder.

"You don't look ugly, Emmy," Alice said kindly, and Emmy rolled her eyes at the girl.

"You're just saying that."

"Girls, we don't have time to waste!" Lily reprimanded them, and pulled them back to the original spot.

"Says the girl who spent a good five minutes laughing at us," Emmy grumbled, and Alice let out of snort of laughter.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Okay, well then…" she waved her wand and suddenly Emmy and Alice felt like their bodies were been stretched to the limit, like forcing yourself to do a split when the most you could do is touch your toes.

"Hey! Ow! Oi, that hurts! Ow, ouch ouch ouch!" Emmy yelped, bending over while Alice gritted her teeth and clenched her jaw in pain. Five minutes later the pain subsided, and the two girls found themselves either too short, skinny, tall, or plump for their clothes.

Alice had gotten taller and more chubby, with more curves and bigger limbs, while Emmy had shrunk a bit, becoming skinner than she already was and bonier than she was before. "Holy crap," Emmy muttered, looking down at herself. "I look like a toothpick."

"And I look like… I don't know. A… grape?" Alice said randomly, and laughed. Kate snorted.

"How random is that?" She giggled softly, and wrote something down on parchment.

Lily, wasting no time, tossed Alice and Emmy extra robes. "Change. I found the right sizes in the Hospital Wing."

The two girls changed quickly while Lily waited, cleaning her wand with the sleeve of her robes. A bit later Emmy announced, "Done!" in her fake cheery voice. "Let's go suck up to Black!"

"Good luck, guys. I feel for you," Kate sympathized from her corner, and Lily laughed.

"Come on. Kate, send that back to the dormitories. We'll keep an eye on you," she ordered, and Kate cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself and Lily. "Let's go, girls."

* * *

><p>Kate and Lily cast a silencing charm on each other as they followed their two friends. Lily was holding Alice's arm, squeezing whenever someone was coming along, reminding them to act like fangirls. When they reached the corner Lily momentarily undid the silencing charm and whispered in Emmy and Alice's ears. "Remember, you've got 20 minutes until the charm wears off. You probably won't take that long, but in case you see it coming just run, alright? Black doesn't really get girls anyway. We'll meet back up at the Room of Requirement. It's –"<p>

"It's the only place in the castle that we know of and that Black doesn't know of at the same time," Emmy interrupted. "We know, Lils. Just let us do our magic." Without warning, Alice opened her mouth and pulled Emmy with her around the corner, squealing loudly. Emmy quickly put on a worshipping gaze.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod it's Sirius Black!" she shrieked, in her best fangirl voice, shrill and overly excited. Alice quickly slapped her hands over her mouth, as if she hadn't meant to be so loud in front of Sirius. Behind them, Kate was bending over with uncontrollable laughter, and Lily was trying hard not to laugh and instead concentrate on the spell.

"She's good," Lily said, though, snorting slightly in her immense effort to hold in her titters.

"Yeah," Kate agreed wholeheartedly, reading Lily's lips and smirking. "I could have thought she was Isabel Oridally." Isabel was the deputy of the Sirius Black Fan Club, and was known for her unmistakably high-pitched screeches and squealing at the sight of Sirius.

Sirius had looked over to the two girls from where he was walking back to Gryfinndor tower. He gave him one of his typical "charming" grins. "Hell-o," he nodded, winking suggestively. Emmy and Alice pretended to swoon.

"Um, I'm Alison Caraway, but you can call me Allie. We're new to the Fan Club," Alice blushed profusely, imagining Frank Longbottom's, her boyfriend, eyes staring deeply into hers.

"I'm Eleanor Grey, but call me Ella," Emmy beamed, a light pink hue on her even-toned skin. "Which is really cool 'cause your last name is Black and my last name is Grey." Emmy looked so hopeful that Kate almost cried laughing.

"That was awesome!" She bawled, clinging onto Lily's wand-free arm as she guffawed silently. "Em was probably thinking of Fabian asking her out," Kate sniggered.

"Stop it! I need to concentrate on the charm!" Lily snapped at her, but couldn't help but let out a small giggle. The two faded in and out behind the Marauders.

"See what you made me do?" Lily scolded.

Kate looked sheepish. "Sorry," she muttered, her lip twitching, and Lily's face broke out in a smile again.

Meanwhile, 'Ella' had been given the "look" from Sirius, and 'Allie' had been 'working up the nerve to ask him something'. "What shampoo do you use?" Alice blurted out, and flushed red.

Sirius looked bewildered for a split second before he smirked at Alice. "Fontein Blue Smooth shampoo. Why do you want to know?"

Alice looked slightly panicked but she kept her cool. "Yeah, see, we—"

Emmy cut her off. "We're new to the club, and they want us to find a special fact about you."

"I remember telling them yesterday," Sirius raised an eyebrow, and Emmy groaned mentally.

"Oh, Merlin, really?" Alice cursed, her brow furrowed, most likely because she had swore.

Suddenly there was a crash and a pattering of footsteps. "Padfoot!" James' voice called. "Quickly!"

Sirius gave Emmy and Alice another wink before he turned and ran off. When Lily and Kate heard Sirius coming they ran as well, racing up to the 7th floor and finally losing him. Kate and Lily bent over, wheezing, hoping desperately that Sirius wouldn't figure out that it was them that were using James' voice, instead of the actual Marauder.

_We need somewhere we can meet in secret without the Marauders finding where we are,_ Kate immediately thought hard, staring intently at the blank wall. A minute later there was a crunching sound and a little iron door appeared in front of them. Kate quickly climbed in and, looking around, Lily got in as well, shutting the door behind them.

The room that they had created was a large place, sort of like the Gryffindor common room, including several couches and even a fireplace, crackling with flames. There was a round table in the center of the room, around which were wooden chairs, obviously a place to plan their activities. A tiny kitchen was in the corner, loaded with snacks, candies, and drinks

"Do you think he saw Em and Ali?" Lily asked nervously, pacing around on the hardwood floor.

"Honestly, Lils, stop fretting. Our plan is nearly fail-proof, and they would be careful," Kate rolled her eyes lazily from the counter in the kitchen, pouring a cup of tea for the each of them. "They'll be here soon."

"Exactly, Kate! _Nearly_fail-proof. There's still a chance that it isn't. What would happen if—"

"Lily, shut up. Seriously. If Black finds them, they'll be smart enough to make an excuse. We have the name of the shampoo, that's all it matters," Kate interrupted her friend, coming back over and handing Lily her cup of tea.

Lily sighed, looking only slightly convinced. The two went on in silence, sipping quietly at their tea, and glancing at the door every so often.

Five minutes later the door creaked open and their two friends tumbled in, slamming the door behind them. Kate and Lily both jumped up and spoke at the same time.

"What in Merlin's name took you so long?" Lily demanded.

"So you've decided to take a nice stroll around the castle before meeting up, did you?" Kate said sardonically.

"We got caught up with Marlene McKinnon," Emmy growled, stalking towards the pot of tea.

"We were almost here when Marlene came," Alice sighed. "We were already transforming back to ourselves, and our clothes were getting too tight or baggy. She asked us who we were, and why we were wearing that, and why we looked familiar."

"Ali and I barely made it out alive," Emmy said, taking up the role of storyteller as she sat in one of the couches.

"That's a bit dramatic now, don't you think?" Alice commented dryly, and Emmy ignored her.

"We made a body of armor explode behind the bitch to distract her and removed her memories," the blue-eyed girl said, her face almost back to normal. "We fixed the armor and got here, forgot the words we needed to think of, thought of something else, which worked, and here we are." Emmy held out her palms in a "ta-da" gesture.

Alice rolled her eyes. "It was reckless, Emmy. You shouldn't have done that," she scolded her friend, who shrugged.

"It worked."

"Good thing, too," Lily interrupted briskly, waving her wand and Summoning two pairs of robes from a closet in a corner. "Here are your robes." She tossed them at the two, both of whom caught them easily.

"Thanks," Alice flashed Lily a grin and changed back into her normal school robes.

Kate suddenly stood up and drew out a piece of parchment from her robes, walking quickly to Lily. "I almost forgot. I found all the ingredients and instructions, plus where to find them," she announced, smiling widely.

The girls exchanged similar grins, and Lily took the parchment. "It looks like we can begin Phase Two," she smirked.

* * *

><p>Two days had passed and it was 10 at night, but the Marauders were still in the Common Room. Sirius was muttering angrily, before he suddenly stopped, glaring, at his fellow Marauders. "Why is Brink so intolerable?" He burst out, furiously.<p>

"Just because you insulted her and she defended herself?" Peter asked, confused, and instantly shut his mouth when Sirius turned the glare on him.

"He's right though, Padfoot," Remus said quickly, before Sirius exploded. "And your face looks redder than Evans' hair right now. Calm down."

James' expression turned wistful. "Lilypad's hair…" he sighed, and Sirius pounded him in the back, hard.

"Love's for ponces, Prongs. Just give up," he declared, and James gave Sirius a look.

"At least I'll admit it. I'm not the one in denial about having a OW! GODDAMMNIT WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" James screeched at Remus, who had just stomped on his foot.

The werewolf just smiled innocently as James nursed his wounded toes. Sirius looked suspicious. "What do I have, Prongs?" He asked cautiously.

"A cru- STOP IT, MOONY!" James yelled, and Remus gave him a severe look, which he finally understood. "Oh."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Moony? Prongs? What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing, Paddy," James grinned, and Sirius was about to say something else when Peter opened his mouth.

"You have a crush on Kate Brink," he said, and Remus slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Wha? I… GREAT MERLIN! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?" Sirius bellowed, and Remus quickly cast _Muffliato_ on the Common Room.

"Padfoot, honestly—" Remus tried to calm him down, to no avail.

"WHERE COULD YOU HAVE GOTTEN THAT NOTION? I _HATE_ BRINK, ALMOST AS MUCH AS I DO MY PARENTS!" Sirius ranted on, and Remus narrowed his eyes.

"_Hate_? Padfoot, can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you completely, absolutely honestly hate Kate Brink?" Remus stared Sirius in the eye, brown meeting grey.

Sirius shut up, then growled," No, but I highly dislike her. Very, very, very much. So much I almost hate her."

"But you don't hate her," Remus almost smiled at Sirius' expression.

"Don't push it, Moony." Sirius gritted his teeth. There was a tense silence, then: "I don't like Brink."

"Denial, my friend," James drawled. "Give it time, you'll see."

"Now you, Prongs? You think I like that _hag_?" Sirius looked disbelievingly at his best friend.

"Hag? That's a bit harsh," James shook his head disapprovingly.

"Guys, exactly how many times do I have to tell you that I _don't like Brink_?" Sirius sighed, obviously trying to keep in his temper.

Remus and James exchanged a knowing grin. "Well, for one, you're staring at her more, without looking like you want to rip her head off," Remus pointed out, and James nodded his agreement.

Sirius rolled his eyes and glared at his friend. "I always want to rip her head off," he snapped.

"And you talk about her more," James added, his smirking. "Admit it, Paddy."

"Only to complain or curse her," Sirius insisted, ignoring the second comment. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."

"But we are," Remus countered, smiling brazenly.

"And you're in denial," James added, with a simper matching Remus'.

Sirius looked from James' face to Remus' that had the same expression, to Peter who was watching them in amusement, and back to James and Remus' again, looking for signs of possible points of weakness, and found none. He sighed, growled, and stomped away. "I'm going to bed," he snapped, and made his way up to the boys' dormitory.

James and Remus looked at each other, and laughed, bending over in their chortles. "He is so crushing on her," James snorted, shaking his head. "He's just too stubborn to admit it."

Remus nodded in total agreement. "He'll realize it eventually."

Peter smiled as well. "By then she will already have a boyfriend, and he will regret it," he said, which was probably and accurate guess.

"Good point, Wormtail," James nodded, and Peter beamed happily. James Potter didn't usually compliment him.

**Ugh. Personally, I don't think this is a good one. It needs improvement, but I just can't think what. Tell me, please: What am I missing here? But I've already written out a nice little scene between Sirius and Kate, but that'll be in several chapters. I quite like that one, but that's me talking. Anyway, Phase One is complete, and the next chapter will be Phases Two and Three (Three being the final one), plus the end of the revenge prank. Also, there won't be a preview for the next chapter here, sorry. I'm still planning it. Give me another couple of weeks… Again, sorry for the wait for Chapter 3. Trust me, Chapter 4 will be up! If it's not, I give you permission to gather a clan of ostriches and let them shit in my front yard.**

**Post vale memento vale,**

**Fflight**


	4. Revenge, Part 2

**Out of My Life, Chapter 3 – Revenge, Part 2**

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and she wishes that he never came into her life. But sooner or later Kate has to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get him out of her life. Full summary inside.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But even Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so do everything else in the Potterverse.

"Cupcakes," Emmy insisted.

"Muffins," Alice asserted.

"No, cupcakes," Emmy argued.

"Muffins."

"Cupcakes.

"Muffins."

"Cupcakes."

"Muffins."

"Cupcakes."

"Scones!" Kate said brightly, and the other two glared.

"No, cupcakes!"

"Muffins are better!"

"What's so bad about scones?"

"Shut up!" Lily roared, and they all jumped. "They are all very delicious, stop arguing, and eat your breakfast!"

The three exchanged looks, and Emmy took a bite of her cupcake. Alice nibbled at her muffin, and Kate put jam on her scone. "Cupcakes," Emmy mumbled with a full mouth. Alice and Kate giggled.

It was the morning of Thursday, one day before the prank was supposed to take place. They were going to brew the potions in the Room of Requirement later that day when they had a free period- Tuesday and Thursdays were the only two days where all four girls had a free period at the same time. "Remember, Lily, you've got to steal the essence of polyphlant and boomslang skin today at potions, alright?" Kate reminded her redheaded friend.

"Yeah, okay," Lily nodded, not looking up from her bowl of granola and blueberries with yoghurt, a weird muggle paste that tasted a bit like sweetened sour milk. It was obvious that Lily didn't want to steal from the teacher that liked her best.

Emmy looked at the yoghurt in disgust, curling her lip. "Why would anyone in a right mind eat that white diarrhea?"

"Because it's healthy," Alice said, scooping some for herself from Lily's bowl. "And it actually tastes good when you add honey and berries."

"I'm not convinced," Emmy shook her head, and went back to eating her fruits and drinking her hazelnut coffee.

"You know, Wizarding food was a lot better than I thought," Lily commented, eating her granola. "I thought that liver and kidney pie would be disgusting, and grubroot soup would be gross, but it tasted rather good when I first had it in First Year," Lily nodded towards the soup that was pale green with darker flecks at the other side of the dining table.

"Agreed. I only ate Muggle food when I was younger. It was only when I found out that I was a witch that I started eating Wizarding food.," Kate agreed, and the other two girls exchanged looks.

"Muggle food sounds disgusting," Emmy declared.

"Yoghurt is like, the only exception," Alice added, waving her spoon at the creamy white substance.

Lily shook her head fervently and started to argue when Gideon Prewett, the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, cleared his throat and said rather loudly: "Alright Gryffs! Listen up!"

The entire table quieted and looked up at the Captain who was standing on the top of the Gryffindor table. He was a highly respected figure in 'Gryffindor Society'. "Right. A particular student whom I respect-" there he looked at James who beamed, and Lily snorted in derision- "has asked for a change of date for the quidditch tryouts. So, because I agree with his reasons the tryouts will be moved to the 10th, on Sunday instead."

There was a cheer from the other side of the table, obviously coming from James and Sirius. Kate was grinning widely, and Emmy was thumping her on the back.

"You've still got a chance, Katy!" She congratulated her friend, and Kate glared at her.

"Thanks, mate, but seriously, don't call me Katy," Kate gave Emmy a look.

"Would you rather us call you—" Lily began with a smirk but was cut off.

"Don't even say it," Kate growled, hating her real name Caitlyn.

Alice, Lily, and Emmy laughed. "What position are you trying out for?" Alice asked suddenly.

"Me? Oh, Beater. Spence's always said that I had a good arm," Kate beamed, and Lily hugged her friend.

"Go give everyone concussions, Kate," Lily grinned, and Kate couldn't stop smiling, even as she headed off to Ancient Runes.

* * *

><p>"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sirius danced around James, singing a self-composed song.<p>

"Oh, I'm going to make the Qui-iii-ditch team!

It'll make me so happy I'll scream!

And thank you, Prongs,

I'll—What rhymes with Prongs?"

"Er, thongs?" James looked uncertain, and Remus laughed.

"I'll make Evans dance in thongs!" Sirius sang, grinning wickedly at James' dazed expression. He made to sing some more when the four girls walked into D.A.D.A at the same time.

Lily's expression was priceless. Her face was a bright scarlet, and her mouth was wide open. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, BLACK?" She screeched.

"YOU'RE DEAD, BLACK!" Kate snarled at the same time, and Sirius raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"Funny, you'd think I wouldn't be still standing here."

"Funny, you'd think even a retard could tell between figurative language and literal language."

"Funny, you'd think—"

"God, guys! Stop arguing for once, won't you?" Alice sighed, exasperated as Emmy and Lily bore down furiously on James.

"No, Potter! I absolutely despise you and you disgust me, I would _never_ go out with you!" Lily shouted lividly and even Kate flinched, looking around from her fight with Sirius. She knew this would hurt James more than everything else.

The boy's face fell and his eyes saddened considerably as Lily stalked to the other side of the classroom. Kate shot James a sympathetic look before she followed her friend away. At the same time, Professor Flosira, their young, beautiful, blonde new professor walked into the room and smiled at the class, who had all rushed back into their seats, Kate shooting a dirty glance at Sirius before sitting down between Lily and Emmy. Alice plopped down next to Lily, who glared fiercely straight ahead. Kate, out of the corner of her eyes, saw Sirius consoling James about Lily and Remus telling them to be quiet.

She turned her attention away when Flosira began talking. "Page two, class. Read it, and when you are done close the book." She pointed her wand at the blackboard and words formed themselves on the smooth surface: _Illegal spells and curses_.

Kate sighed and flipped to the page. There, many dark spells that she hadn't even heard of were on the page, but her eyes fell on the words:

_**Unforgivable Curses**_

And then to:

_**The Killing Curse**_

She gulped and looked away from the page, memories flashing in her mind. Feeling sick, Kate closed the book.

"Oh? Done already, Miss Brink?" Flosira crossed her arms and looked straight at Kate. "I didn't know you could read so quickly. Pray tell, what does the spell _Mortemalus_ do?"

"Er, it, uh…" Kate had heard of this before, she was sure of it. "Um, it has to do with death?"

Flosira's eyes narrowed. "Five points from Gryffindor, Brink, for lying." Sirius shot a deadly glare at Kate, which she ignored defiantly. "_Mortemalus_ creates the illusion that you are dying or that someone else is dying for a person, without actually killing that person. It's used, usually, for torture."

"So it _does_ have something to do with death. And she wasn't lying, she never said that she had finished reading. What'd you take points off her for?" Emmy called out angrily, and Flosira's eyes narrowed.

"My, didn't your previous Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor teach you not to talk back to your elders? Don't any of your teachers?" Flosira sneered, and Emmy clenched her fists.

"Our previous Professor taught us better than you ever could," Emmy snapped. "And the rest of them could teach _you_ a thing or two about not being a git."

The entire class froze. Emmy was known for a fiery temper, but she had never insulted a teacher to her face before. Flosira's eyes were darker and colder than they had been before.

"Fifty points off Gryffindor, Parsons, and you'll be serving detentions for three days," Flosira growled, and pointed her wand at Emmy. "Now I'll not be hearing any more from you this lesson." With a flick of her wand Emmy gasped and clutched at her throat.

"Emmy!" Kate, Alice, and Lily jumped up at the same time, rushing over to their friend.

"Sit _down_, you three," Flosira commanded forcefully, and the three girls, with a furious expression, sat down. By that time Emmy had finished choking, and was glowering, enraged, at the Professor.

"You—" Emmy cut herself off and tried to keep going but ended up sprouting nonsense. "Motherly bubbles pink puffy cats fans and yellow flowers! You put a spell on me!" Emmy accused, and Flosira shrugged.

"Taught you a lesson though, didn't you? Right, sorry about that, class. I'm sure the rest of you finished reading, though. Evans, the Imperius Curse is…?"

"An Unforgivable Curse, and will send you to Azkaban. It gives you complete control over a person until you end the spell," Lily's voice quivered a bit as she answered, but Flosira didn't seem to notice.

"Five points to Gryffindor. Mulciber, the Cruciatus?"

The Slytherin's smirk was so frightening that Kate nearly shrank away. "It's an Unforgivable too, Professor. Tortures someone."

'More or less. Five points to Slytherin. And Brink, the final Unforgivable Curse is…"

"The- the Killing Curse," Kate answered, quietly. "Kills a person instantly, and cannot be blocked. It's the only spell that's not nonverbal nor wandless."

"Correct. Five points. As you all know, all of these are very, very illegal and…" Flosira droned on.

Kate immediately got out a piece of paper and silently performed a charm on it.

**Bold: Lily **_Italics: Alice_ Underlined: Emmy _**Italicized and Bolded: Kate**_

_**Can you believe it? What a bitch! And I thought she was alright!**_

_Well, Emmy, it was sort of your fault. You shouldn't have talked back to the teacher. We shouldn't be passing notes, either._

_**Alice! How could you!**_

Liss, did you hear her? That hag was… evil, I tell you! How is she even Hufflepuff? She has to be Slytherin.

_Em, you've never hated a teacher so much. Why now?  
><em>

I felt this bad vibe.

_**Seriously, Em? Vibes?**_

**You girls shouldn't be passing notes in class. **

_**You're writing notes. What's the difference?**_

Here Lily rolled her eyes and scribbled something. The words showed up on everybody's papers. **The difference is, I'm actually taking notes on the class.**

_Well, we're talking about the class, too. _

**You mean you're talking about how bad the teacher is. You're not **_**really**_** taking notes on the lesson.**

So do you like that teacher?

**No.**

Ha! I'm right!

Kate looked exasperated as she answered. _**About what?**_

She's evil. Lil said that she didn't like Flosnotta, so she must be evil. Because our Lil here likes everybody except James Potter who isn't evil.

**James Potter is EVIL!**

Kate ignored her. _**Flosnotta?**_

Emmy smirked when she replied. Yes. My name for her.

_**Wonder—**_

At this point, 'Flosnotta' aimed her wand at Kate's paper and it exploded into bits. "You're to be listening by now, not taking notes, Miss Brink. I doubt that you were, anyway." She turned back to preaching the class on whatever it was they were learning.

Kate exchanged a look with Emmy. "Hag," she hissed viciously under her breath.

* * *

><p>It seemed as if the entire Hogwarts staff decided to pair Kate up with the Marauders. She was assigned the seat next to James during Potions. "Honestly, can't I be Marauder-free for even <em>one<em> class period?" She grumped, opening her textbook.

James shot her a good-natured grin. "What, are we really that bad?"

Kate gave him a scornful look. "Yes." After a second's thought, she amended, "Well, Remus is okay, he's actually pretty cool, but the rest of you? Especially Black?" She shuddered.

"You and Moony're on a first name basis now, are you?" James said jokingly, and Kate knew that, but it didn't stop her from giving him a glare.

"We're… Charms buddies, I suppose. And he's a lot better than the other three of you would be," Kate told him firmly, throwing in a handful of dried flobberworm tails.

"Harsh, aren't you?" James laughed.

"You could say that," Kate shrugged, checking the Potions textbook again.

"Well, why don't you like me?" James prodded, and Kate bit back a sigh of annoyance.

"For one, all we hear about you is Lily ranting and raving about how much of an arrogant, big-headed toerag you are." She pretended not to notice the flash of hurt across his eyes. "Secondly, you're Black's best mate, and I hate him. That's not bound to be any good for you, is it?"

"Do I seem arrogant, big-headed, and… er, toe-rag-esque now?" James questioned, setting down the glimmerweed root he was chopping and looking at Kate.

"Well…" Kate had to admit, she had thought him to be a lot worse. "Not really."

"See?" James looked like he had accomplished something important.

"Don't get used to it," Kate warned him, and he flashed her a 'Potter grin'.

"'Course not, mate."

"Oh, I'm your mate now, am I?" Kate teasingly poked his shoulder. "Black will be jealous."

"Don't worry. He'll be too busy flirting to notice," James chuckled.

"So you don't like his man-whorish tendencies, then?"

"Not particularly. Don't tell him I said that."

"'Course not, mate," Kate smirked, and James laughed again. She decided that James Potter wasn't as bad as Lily made him out to be.

10 minutes later, Kate and James' potion had gone from a vibrant blue to a sickly yellow. "What did we do wrong?" Kate lamented dismally.

"I don't know! It was fine just a minute ago!" James looked just as bewildered and panicked while Kate flipped through the book in a frenzy. "Should we ask my Lilyflower?" He glanced over at the redhead, who was currently arguing with her partner, Sirius.

"No, we've got to figure this out ourselves. Oh, and don't call her – wait, look, here it is. It says… Potter, I think we forgot to add the beozar feet before we put in the glimmerweed roots." Kate looked slightly confused.

"What the hell are beozar feet?" James asked, looking bemused.

"No idea."

"Beozars don't have feet, they come from—"

"A goat's stomach, I know." Kate was now looking for 'beozar feet' in the index.

"Then maybe… they're goat feet?" James suggested, and Kate glanced up at him so quickly that her ponytail nearly whacked him in the face.

"How'd you figure?"

"Well, since beozars are in goats, then maybe…"

"Of course not, you twit," Kate rolled her eyes. "That's completely illogical."

"Er, well, maybe…"

"Look, Potter! We read it wrong!" She exclaimed so loudly and suddenly that Lily looked at them curiously.

"It says belzar feet, not beozar feet!" Kate slapped her forehead.

"Er… so, what were belzars again?" James wondered, and the two exchanged distressed looks. Kate realized that she didn't know what a belzar was either.

"I don't bloody know!"

"Alright, let's take a look at your potions!" Slughorn stood, beaming at his students.

"Oh, we're screwed," Kate muttered at the same time James cursed, "Shit."

"Hell."

"This bloody sucks."

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Totally."

"Definitely."

"Mr. Potter and Miss Brink!" Slughorn had made his way to their table, and was now staring disapprovingly at their ruined potion. "What happened?"

"Er, you see, sir, we forgot to add the belzar feet, sir," James answered awkwardly.

"Belzar feet? What in Merlin's name is that?" Slughorn's forehead wrinkled, and a couple students snickered.

"That's what it said in the book, sir," Kate supplied helpfully. "It says: 'Add three spoonfuls of belzar feet and stir thrice counterclockwise'."

Slughorn frowned. "I believe it said: 'Add three spoonfuls of _bezzar fruit_ and three thrice counterclockwise'," he said.

James and Kate exchanged a look and hurried to reread the instructions.

"Oh." Both of their faces were bright red.

"Um, sorry, professor," Kate apologized in her embarrassment, and this time more than a few students laughed.

"Please read your assignments more carefully next time," Slughorn told them sternly.

"Yes, sir."

"And you'll be assigned an extra report on bezzar fruits."

The unfortunate students exchanged another glance, this time one of horror. "Yes, sir."

Kate turned to James and opened her mouth to say something when something hit the back of her head. She scowled and bent to pick it up. It was a crumpled piece of parchment. Kate placed it on her desk, smoothed it, and read:

_Need glasses, Brink?_

She turned around to see Sirius wearing an immensely irritating grin next to a very annoyed Lily. Kate furiously scratched out a reply, her quill almost snapping. When Slughorn wasn't looking she tossed it back at him, hitting him in the eye. She smirked to herself.

_In case you haven't noticed, _Black_, your best mate here made the same mistake._

The returning letter came quickly, skidding across the table to stop next to her ink well.

_I was under the impression that you were the one telling Prongs what the ingredients were._ With a guilty pang, Kate realized that he was right. But there was no way in hell that she was going to tell him that.

_I guess you thought wrong then, didn't you?_ Class ended right as Sirius read it and Kate, in her hurry to write the letter, didn't catch the homework. She looked at James a little sheepishly.

"Er, what was the homework again?"

"An essay on the potion. A metre long." James was packing his things away.

"Thanks. And, er… sorry about the misreading thing. It was my fault." Kate purposely didn't look at him as she put her own things away.

James opened his mouth to reply but another voice startled Kate. "Hah! I knew it was you, Brink! Liar!"

Kate turned and gave Sirius her most withering glower, with, to her colossal vexation, didn't seem to bother him at all. "You really are the most intolerable prat in the universe, Black," she spat, and, taking her things with her, she marched angrily out of the room.

James gave Sirius an imploring look. "Honestly, mate?"

At the same time, Lily sent Sirius a glare. "Honestly, Black?" Finding that she had been speaking nearly the same words as her 'arch enemy', the redhead scoffed and, dragging Emmy with her, hurried to their next class.

Sirius ignored Lily but instead gave his best friend a disbelieving look. "You're sticking up for Brink?"

"Well, you didn't need to rub it in her face," James reasoned, slinging his bookbag over his shoulder. He felt that Sirius had really exaggerated how bad Kate was – in reality, the girl wasn't all that bad. She was pretty fun to be around, actually.

"Prongs, this is _Brink_ we're talking about. The devil incarnate. And you're suddenly best mates with her now, are you?" Sirius shook his head as the two of them headed out the door. Remus and Peter joined up with them from their Herbology class about halfway to Transfiguration.

"What're we talking about?" Peter squeaked, as Remus gave James a curious look.

"Getting chummy with Padfoot's rival, Prongs?" He smirked, and James rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to go off and spend all night gossiping like a girl with her. Seriously, stop making it sound worse. All I'm saying is that Brink isn't all that bad. I don't even know why you pretend to hate her so much." James accidentally let his, Remus', and Peter's suspicions slip.

"_Pretend _to hate her? Merlin, of course I hate her!" Sirius stared at the three of them. "This is about your stupid theory on how I like her, isn't it?"

Remus gave James a dirty look. "Perhaps. Come on, if we keep at this pace, we're never going to get to class. What kind of prefect am I, if I show up late for class?" He strode ahead of the others, pulling his friends with him.

"A Marauder prefect, mate!" James replied jovially as Sirius grumbled inaudible things about Kate.

* * *

><p><strong>Kate's POV:<strong>

**(A.N.: Right, I know that this is in 3****rd**** person, but I really felt like doing 1****st**** person for this bit… and who knows? Maybe, if it goes well with you guys I might even make it 1****st**** person for the rest (or at least most of) the fanfic. Anyway, let's keep going…)**

Honestly! That jerk ruined everything. I plopped down crossly at my seat, glaring at the Transfiguration book on the rickety desk. Five minutes later the Marauders ran in, panting heavily, and I, having the horrible fate of being the only one out of my friends to be in the Slytherin/Gryffindor Transfiguration class, scowled. The Slytherin boy next to me had the same reaction. Really, if the Slytherins weren't so goddamn evil and idiotic I would have gotten along with them rather well, bonded by a common hatred of the four boys. Well, three, really. Remus was my friend. And Potter wasn't really so bad.

The voice of Professor McGonagall interrupted my rather violent fantasies of ripping out the innards of Sirius Black and I snapped out of my daze to direct my stare at the teacher. "… Be assigning seats for you this semester," she continued, and there was a collective groan from the class. Ignoring it like a professional (which, I suppose, she was), McGonagall didn't even blink as she carried on. "So, if you would all please stand to the sides of the classroom." The clanging of chairs being pulled away and the shuffling of shoes across the room was rather loud as all the students hurried to the sides of the room. I found myself beside the Slytherin boy- who, I realized, had almost the exact black hair and piercing grey eyes as Black. Strange.

"Mister Regulus Black and Miss Mary MacDonald," McGonagall said, and the Slytherin boy moved. My eyebrows flew to my hairline. That was Black's brother, whom I had heard so much about! No wonder they looked so alike. The Irish girl scampered to her seat, looking rather fearful. I snorted. What's to be afraid of?

"Mister Sirius Black and Miss Catilyn Brink," the cursed professor then announced.

Bloody. Hell.

I wasn't sure what to be more annoyed with: That McGonagall had just called me Catilyn, or that I had been paired with Black. After just a split second of thought, I decided that Black was the winner. I would rather be called Catilyn Ariana Aileen Syntra Brink (my full name) for the rest of my life than sit with Black for one and a half hours.

We sat down next to each other without speaking. At all. I must say, I was a little surprised. I had expected for him to suddenly lash out and say something stupid, but instead his mouth was shut and he was glowering steadily ahead.

Whatever. Not my problem.

I imitated his intense stare, but instead directed it at McGonagall. Maybe, if I sent her enough fiery telepathic daggers through my eyes I would actually burn her up.

No luck. Instead, she started preaching on the Disappearing charm- something that I had learned in the summer, with my Mother harping on about tutoring courses. My Mother was like a dictator, I swear. Probably has to do with the fact that she was a Zabini. A complete Slytherin.

Black was sitting there pouting about something, that I _obviously_ didn't care about. But seriously, it was so boring, listening to "_Evanesco!_" over and over again that I actually felt like talking to Black. Finally, I caved in. "Black."

He seemed to jump a bit, and I hid a smirk as he turned his head slightly. "Brink."

"Eggplant." It was the first thing that came to my mind. Which, really, just showed how messed up I was. Who randomly thinks of vegetables?

He looked slightly amused, I think. "Radish."

I raised an eyebrow. Was this some kind of game to him? "Spinach."

Black scrunched up his nose. He mustn't like spinach very much. To be honest, I didn't either. "Avocado."

"That's not a vegetable," I told him prissily, dipping my quill in the ink well to begin the in-class assignment.

He snorted. "Who gives a damn?"

"I do."

"No, I mean who gives a damn about what you think?" Black gave me a superior look, to which I felt like replying with a punch in the face.

"You should," I instead countered lamely.

"I don't have to," he crossed his arms, looking rather like a girl. It made me laugh. "What's so funny, Brink?" He snapped, glowering at me, his voice raised slightly.

"Mister Black, and Miss Brink! Please work on your essays in silence!" The highly annoyed voice of McGonagall broke into our glaring contest, and made James laugh behind us.

I turned around and shot him a look before smiling sweetly at McGonagall. "Yes, Professor. Sorry. Black was just being himself." I buried my head back into my essay.

_The origin of the spell 'Evanesco', or the Disappearing Charm, is a highly debated topic, though…_

"What the hell was that for?" An angry whisper sounded, and a finger poked my shoulder.

"Shut up, and let me finish my essay, Black," I spat at him, pushing his hand away. But when my fingers touched his, a shock zapped my finger, and a strange, crackling feeling ran through my body. What the hell was that? Static, perhaps? He seemed to have felt it too, as he looked slightly disturbed and disoriented when he replaced his hand on the table. Static, definitely.

At least he didn't answer. Kate: 01/Sirius: 01

A tie. Well, there'd be plenty of time to get ahead of the game. I smirked and kept scribbling on.

* * *

><p>"I've got an idea!" Alice squealed when she ran into the Room of Requirement for our Potion-Brewing session.<p>

"And when you got that idea, I hope you weren't so excited you let people see you getting in here, were you?" Lily said dryly beside me.

"No, of course not. Anyway, you know how Gideon talked about the change of Quidditch team try-outs?" Alice's beam was so bright I think I was blinded.

"Yeah, what about it?" Emmy had stepped in behind Alice, and was now sitting down at one of the couches. Lily poured her and Alice some tea.

"You guys can deny it all you want, but you've got to admit, Black's an awesome player. You know he's going to make it, and you know how happy he'll be… so what we'll do is do the prank after he finds out." Alice finished, and took a rather loud slurp of tea.

"It'll drown his spirits!" Kate smirked evilly, and Lily's eyes brightened.

"You're brilliant, Lissy!" She cried, and hugged the petite girl, which made her spill her drink all over the redhead. "Ow!" Lily yelped, feeling the hot tea burn her back.

"Sorry! _Tergeo!"_ Alice squeaked, and the tea was siphoned off.

"S'okay," Lily shrugged it off, smiling. "You fixed it, anyway."

"Good idea, Liss. Now that we're all here, let's start brewing, shall we?" Emmy grinned, and I chuckled.

"Sure. You've got the last ingredients, Lil?" I pulled out the glimmerweed from potions. I had slipped some into my pockets without James noticing.

"Yep."

"Alice, you've got the others?"

"Plucked it right from the ground at Care of Magical Creatures," Alice snickered, and Emmy looked impressed.

"How'd you know it'd be there?" She asked the shorter girl as she boiled the water with a flick of her wand.

"I remembered reading about it in Herbology. In marshy areas, Sprout said. We went to a marsh today, so I thought that it'd be there," Alice laughed, dropping the hot pink flower inside.

"Nice one, Ali," I complimented, stirring the flower in with the ladle.

There was a moment of comfortable silence, when Lily spoke up. "So, Kate, I saw you chatting with Potter during Potions," she raised an eyebrow at me, and Emmy's mouth dropped open.

"You're getting friendly with _Potter_, of all people?" The blonde asked incredulously, and I shrugged.

"He's not all that bad," I informed her, a bit defensively, as I tossed in my glimmerweed. "I don't really know why Lily's like that about him." I gave my friend a sideways glance.

"_He's not all that bad?_" Lily spluttered. "Didn't you even see what I said in D.A.D.A? He's evil!"

"He's no Lucius Malfoy," I rolled my eyes. "Sure, he can be an arrogant prick, but he's actually pretty nice to me."

"Are you serious?" Lily's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

I shrugged, and decided to drop the matter. I didn't want to get her all riled up now. I exchanged a look with Alice, who giggled and shook her head slightly.

"Well, guess who I got to sit with in Transfig." I heaved a great sigh and looked around at them all, with great big, miserable eyes. Well, as miserable as my weird amber eyes could be, really.

"Who? Gid Prewett?" Emmy waggled her eyebrows, and my cheeks burned red. I had a crush on him in fourth year, but not _now_.

"No! I don't like him anymore! That was fourth year!" I protested, crossing my arms. "Anyway, I didn't sit with him. Someone super, super bad."

Alice's eyes grew big. "A Slytherin?"

"Worse."

"No. Way." Lily shook her head sympathetically. "You had to sit with Black, didn't you?"

I nodded sadly, and the other two girls gasped.

"Seriously? Was he a pain in the ass?"

"Did he harass you again?"

"Yes, and no," I answered. "We actually didn't talk for the most of the class."

"Really?" Lily's eyes stretched wide. "You mean, you ignored him, right? Or was he not talking to you?"

"He wasn't talking to me. Actually, I got so bored with McGonagall's droning that I talked to him first."

"What?" Emmy looked surprised. "You always ignored him."

"Well, I'd rather get into a nice old argument than sit there, you know?" I looked imploringly at the three of them. "I'd rather be doing something."

Alice sighed. "I'll never understand your train of thought, but sure. Whatever." She added in some of the last drops of messa juice.

Lily rolled her eyes. "None of us do." I pushed her playfully.

"Shut up," I grinned.

She laughed. "You shut up."

"Cupcakes," Emmy announced. We all exchanged looks, and burst out laughing, nearly knocking over the potion.

**Yay! Crappy chappie!**

… **That rhymes.**

**Anyway, I think that was rather bad. And that I was rather bad as well, to keep you all waiting, because I promised you guys that I'd put it up. Which implied **_**soon**_**. So, now I give you all permission to gather a herd of llamas and have them poop in my yard. **

**Either way, feel free to tell me how bad it was and how I should improve it. Yes, I do mean **_**and**_** how I should improve it. Like always, don't tell me how bad it was and leave it like that. It won't help me. And it certainly won't make it better.**

**So, there's the fourth chapter, which rather sucked. I'm not saying that just so you guys can reassure me and tell me how great it is (though it'd be nice if you did, but be honest, say what you believe), I honestly think it's bad.**

**Oh, and I recently discovered that I've been saying some things in a British accent now. I'm American. I've either got too many British friends, or I've just been over-obsessing over Harry Potter (not the character, the series). **

**That's a super long author's note, but there you go. Ta-ta, my beautiful readers!**

**Post vale memento mei,**

**Fflight**


	5. VERY IMPORTANT

_********_**VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!**********

**Hi! Okay, this is an author's note instead of a chapter. I personally hate these, but now I know how important they can be. So: UPDATE THAT KATE, LILY, EMMY, ALICE, SIRIUS, JAMES, REMUS, PETER, AND FRANK are in their 6TH YEAR, NOT their 5th year. So, wherever it says "But that's a 6th year spell!" or something, substitute it with something like "But that's a really advanced spell!". Okay? Yeah. Thanks.**

**ALSO! I'd like to APOLOGIZE for not posting a chapter recently, but I PROMISE that I will be posting chap. 5 relatively soon (either this weekend, or sometime during next week. Hopefully this weekend). So, PLEASE, if you for some reasons own any llamas or manage to gather quite a few of them, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feed them tons of flatulation-inducing foods, and herd them to my yard or neighborhood. Keep them there until they have explosive diarrhea all over it. Okay? I need to learn my lesson. SORRY AGAIN!**

**Anyway. Bye! xD**


	6. Beozar Feet?

**Out of My Life, Chapter 5 – The Prank/ Beozar feet**

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and she wishes that he never came into her life. But sooner or later Kate has to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get him out of her life. Full summary inside.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But even Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine, and anybody not in the HP series ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so does everything else in the Potterverse.

"Which one is it?" Kate whispered, looking at the variety of shampoo bottles. Emmy twisted her head around so she could look. Only those two had gone up to the dormitories, because they had decided that Alice would be too loud and Lily would be too clumsy. Lily would hold the charm that was countering the protective spell to keep girls from the boys' dormitories, while Alice kept guard.

"That one," the blonde whispered, pointing to a deep purple one. "And that's his conditioner." She pointed to a bottle with a lighter shade of purple. Kate silently levitated the shampoo towards her, and uncorked it with her thumb and forefinger. Emmy handed Kate the vial of potion, and the other girl poured it in the shampoo.

Just then the ring on her middle finger flashed bright red, meaning that Alice needed her to hurry. Lily had put Protean Charms on four identical rings, so that it would flash different colors to show the state of each girl. Bright red meant Alice needed help (in this situation, though, it meant hurry the hell up), and pink meant Alice was fine. Emerald green meant Lily was in trouble, while forest green meant she wasn't. Cobalt blue meant Emmy had an emergency, and deep sea blue meant she hadn't. And, ironically, black meant Kate had had some serious misfortune, and silver meant she was fine.

Kate exchanged panicked looks with Emmy. The boys were coming earlier than expected. She quickly replaced the shampoo, dumped the potion in the conditioner, put it back, and ran to the window. Emmy raced after her. This time, the red flashed more urgently, followed by a burst of emerald green. They heard the portrait of the Fat Lady open. "Shit," Emmy cursed as they opened the window. "_Accio broom!"_ The two both commanded, thinking of the same thing. Emmy, at the same time, made Lily and Alice's rings flash bright blue.

Downstairs, Alice trailed in behind the Marauders, who were too excited about the quidditch team tryouts tomorrow to notice the short black-haired girl behind them. She exchanged an anxious glance with Lily as the four boys started up the stairs, just passing by an invisible Lily with a Disillusionment Charm on her. Her ring flashed and, thinking quickly, she made James in the front trip. He stumbled with an "oomph", and the other three boys hurried to help their friend.

Kate heard a thud and realized that Lily must have made a distraction. With a mental note to thank her later, Kate spotted her Comet 120 speeding towards her. She grabbed it just as Emmy gripped her Cleansweep. Emmy jumped out the window, landing on her broom and flying off. "Come on!" She shouted before arcing high up into the sky, to avoid being seen. Kate hesitated, before leaping out herself.

It felt like going on a roller coaster, like the one she had gone on with her father when she was ten. Kate had always loved flying, but when she was free-falling with a broom in her hand it made things a bit different. It took her a bit to get the broom under her, and even longer to make it stop and go up. Emmy was lucky to have the Cleansweep, as it was better for speed and instructions, while Kate had an ideal beater's broom: Strong, high-dexterity, and stubborn as hell. She needed a seeker's or chaser's broom like Emmy's, at the moment. At least it had the new braking spell on it, to make her life easier. Nevertheless, Kate managed to fly up and shut the windows with a spell, just as the Marauders entered the room. Emmy sighed in relief when her ring flashed silver, and Kate appeared a moment later.

"I thought McGonagall was going to see you!" Emmy gasped, hugging her friend in the girl's dormitories where they had flown into via the window. (Kate had shouted "_Alohomora!"_ Numerous times before her voice rose above the screaming wind and the window unlocked.) They locked it tightly and stashed their brooms under the bed.

"Me too," Kate admitted, grinning ruefully at Emmy as she stood back up. "I wish I had a Cleansweep."

"Then you'd be going around with a broken broom at quidditch games," Emmy rolled her eyes, and sat on her bed. "You need a Comet for Beating."

"Why don't you play quidditch, Em?" Kate asked suddenly. "You know a lot, and you fly really well."

Emmy hesitated before answering in a quieter voice, "My entire family hates quidditch."

Kate sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter. If you really like it, you should go for it. My mother hates quidditch, and I still play."

Emmy shot Kate a look. "It's different for you."

Kate silently acknowledged it. Her mother hated nearly everything she did. "Still, it doesn't bother me, does it? I go and do what I want," she persisted. When Emmy didn't answer, she sighed once more. "Come on, let's go tell Lily and Ali we're safe." The two went down to the common room, flashing their "calm" colors as they went.

* * *

><p>Sirius paced the boys' dormitory. "I can't wait for tryouts," he glanced up at James and grinned, stopping for a second before moving on.<p>

Remus groaned and massaged his temples. "Padfoot, that circling is making me dizzy," he complained, falling face-first on his bed.

The shorter boy stood still, grinning roguishly at his friend. "Why is it that I always make you get headaches, Moony?"

"Because you're Sirius Black," came the muffled reply, and James laughed. Peter joined in a little too late. Sirius pretended to glare at Remus' back, and the two boys laughed harder.

"Whatever. I'm just restless for tomorrow," he told Remus, sitting on his own bed.

"And the detention-date with Brink?" James teased, waggling his eyebrows.

Remus flipped over and propped his head up so that he was looking at the glasses-wearing boy, chuckling. "Only you would think of a detention as a date, Prongs."

Sirius glowered fiercely at both of them. "It's not a date! And I don't like her!" He turned away and faced the wall of his bed. There was a pause, and then he swiveled back around, eyes round. "Shit, I have detention with McGonagall!"

Remus grinned. "Ah, remember now?" Sirius flipped him the bird.

"I won't be able to join you guys with practice for quidditch tomorrow!" Sirius realized, putting his head in his hands. "I forgot."

"Well, you shouldn't have fought with her, then," Remus reminded him, and James looked hesitant.

"I can't say I don't agree with him, mate," he admitted, and Sirius glared at both of them again.

"Are my friends turning against me, now?" He muttered angrily, and James sighed.

"We're not turning against you, Paddy."

"Yeah! Nobody's turning against you, Sirius!" Peter suddenly squeaked, jumping into the conversation.

"Thanks, Wormy," Sirius said sarcastically, but Peter didn't detect the sardonic tone. His eyes sparkled at his words. Rolling his eyes at James, Sirius made his way out of the dormitories. Downstairs, he noticed four girls for the first time.

"Since when were you here?" He asked suspiciously.

"Hello to you too, Black," Lily rolled her eyes, not looking up from her essay.

"I didn't see you come in." Sirius ignored Lily's words, and continued to look suspicious.

"That's because you were upstairs, idiot," Kate sneered, and crossed out a sentence in her Potions report. "Get James, will you? I need to ask him something."

He felt a flash of jealousy, and felt surprised, but ignored it. "What for?"

"I don't need an interrogation, Black," Kate spat, and stood up. "I'll get him myself." She marched towards the staircase.

"You can't go in the boys' dormitory—" Sirius shut up when Kate pulled out her wand, waved it, and silenced Sirius. He glared angrily at her. With "_Declimo femeprohibilia!"_ she walked easily up the stairs. A moment later he heard the banging of the door.

"James Potter, get out right now!" There was a silence, then the familiar rustle of robes being shifted. Suddenly, a _bang s_ounded throughout the room, and a very sooty James Potter was being dragged down the stairs. Lily, Alice, and Emmy were laughing hysterically, while Sirius was trying his best to keep a smile off his face. Kate undid the spell on Sirius with a flick of her wand, and proceeded to force James' face into her parchment. "Potter, did you hear how long Slughorn's requirements for the extra report had to be?"

James' expression meant he had no idea what was going on. Kate sighed dramatically. "Slughorn assigned us an extra paper on bezzar fruit."

"On account of Brink needing reading—" Sirius was cut off once more with a silencing charm, and the expression on his face was priceless. Emmy snorted and pointed her wand at him, murmuring something inaudible under her breath. Sirius was pushed out of the common room, and the portrait slammed in his face. He wouldn't be able to come back in unless he was able to say the password, which was impossible since he couldn't talk. Lily and Alice laughed harder.

James gave Kate a look. "Did you have to do that?"

"Yes. Now come on, how long does it have to be?" Kate pushed his shoulder, standing over him as he eyed her paper, still on the floor and covered in soot.

He paused, and then his eyes went wide. "We have extra homework!" He exclaimed, and Kate slapped her forehead in frustration.

"You don't even pay attention when you're being given homework?" Lily gave James a look of disgust.

"No. Er, I mean, yeah. Most of the time." James looked slightly nervous as he crossed his legs in front of Kate.

"In other words, never. Don't even try," Kate warned him, hitting him in the head with her books. He yelped and rubbed his head. She smirked, and pulled him up. "Come on, we're going to go see Slughorn and ask." With surprising strength, Kate dragged him to the door. She flung open the portrait, and suddenly something big and dark flew at her. James jumped out of the way just in time.

Kate landed on the floor with a thud, her arms automatically spreading out and hitting the floor as well, softening her fall. Still, she moaned softly as she felt the throbbing of the back of her head. The person, who she now found to have dark hair and was a boy (judging by the… a-HEM, _organ_ that was pressed against her right leg), had fallen on her. When he shifted, his arms tightening around her waist, and looked up, Kate's mouth dropped open in a huge 'O' of surprise. Sirius Black had his arms around her and was at a disbelievingly close distance.

Her eyes instantly met his grey ones and they stared at each other- still in shock, Kate later supposed, though it seemed like something else at the time. They stayed frozen for a few seconds- or hours- until somebody coughed in amusement behind them. It was then that she realized that his weight was actually entirely pressing down on her, and that he was hurting her chest.

And that the back of her head was throbbing with pain.

"Stop squishing my chest, you flaming idiot!" She roared in her fury, squirming underneath him, and the entire common room became silent. To whoever that either just arrived or didn't see what happened, it would sound very different than the actual meaning indeed. Sirius flushed dark red, but Kate was too enraged to feel embarrassed, or notice the implications of her words. "I said GET OFF!"

Sirius scrambled up, still blushing. Kate sent him a Stinging Hex to the groin, and he bent over, silently howling with pain. The crowd, realizing that there was nothing… inappropriate going on and that it was just two of their much-appreciated forms of humor, exploded with laughter as one of the most popular students in Hogwarts hopping around, clutching at his crotch.

With a last glare at Sirius, Kate grabbed James' hand and marched away, but not before James gave Sirius a suggestive wink, to which Sirius soundlessly growled at. The last thing James heard before the door shut behind him was a furious "trying to molest her now, are you?" from Lily. Kate pretended not to hear, and pretended even more not to remember the electricity running through her body as she stared into his eyes, just like when their fingers had touched.

"The bloody bastard! Thinking he can tackle me like that!" Kate was ranting as she ran down the stairs to the dungeons, her hand still attached to James'.

"Tackle you? I think it was more 'get on top of you'," James smirked in a suggestive fashion. Kate whipped her head around and if looks could kill, he would have shriveled up and died.

"Shut the fuck up! Honestly, now's not the time for your innuendos! You've got to get him to stop, you're the only one who can—"

"You know, you can let go of my hand now." James hid a smile, but Kate didn't even go slightly pink like he knew she would have if he were Sirius. Instead she growled and threw his hand down, taking hold of his tie and tuggings him away.

They stumbled into the Potions classroom, and Slughorn looked up from his desk and raised an eyebrow. "What's this?"

Kate ran up to him. "Professor, we have a question."

"Very well, but first I have one. Why is Mister Potter so… dirty?" Slughorn looked James up and down.

"Accident, sir," Kate said loudly, before James could say anything. "Our coal exploded in Transfiguration."

Slughorn still was skeptical, but he pointed his wand at James, and silently performed some kind of spell that sort of vacuumed the soot on his robes and face away, and then smoothed his crumpled clothing (mostly, the tie). "And what was this question you have for me?"

Kate nudged James, who looked sheepishly at Slughorn. "We didn't hear how long the assignment – the extra one – on bezzar fruit had to be," he admitted, and Slughorn narrowed his eyes.

"And why not? I was standing in front of you." Slughorn narrowed his eyes and took his spectacles off, presumably to make him look intimidating. It didn't work, and instead made him look like a walrus with smaller eyes.

James flashed him a charming smile. "Sorry, sir. We were thinking about our mistake."

Slughorn sighed. "It was going to be a metre, but now it'll be one and a half metres, for your… selective hearing. Off you go." The two students ran off and skidded to a stop outside of the common room.

"Great, now you've gotten us another half metre of writing!" Kate accused him, eyes narrowed, as they faced the Fat Lady. The sun had set, and most of the students were using their free time to work on their homework before going down to dinner.

James rolled his eyes. "You could have been paying attention in class, too. Galloping mermaids," he added to the Fat Lady, who swung open, leaving him wondering once again why the Head Boy and Girl had set that as the password.

"Well, that was Black's fault," Kate shot back, crossing her arms as she plopped down at her Potions essay. "And you should have been there to stop him."

"Did I hear my name?" Sirius drawled from the stairs of the boys' dormitory.

Kate felt like something was off. She gave James a thoughtful look, and then— "Who took off the Silencing Charm?" She demanded, standing up, glaring at Sirius.

"That would be me," Remus admitted, from next to Peter at the chess table. "He was threatening me with what I assume to be a Babbling Curse."

Kate directed the power of her glare at him, and he winced visibly.

"Relax, Kate," Alice called from Frank's lap. "He was being even more of an idiot anyway."

"Hey!" Sirius indignant scowl reminded Kate that Sirius was the evil one, not Remus, and the werewolf let out a sigh of relief when she went back to pointing her wand at Sirius.

Alice smirked at Sirius as Frank laughed while Lily and Emmy cracked identical smiles, knowing what Alice was going to say. "Exactly, Black."

Sirius shook his head, sighing. "Should have known you'd say that."

"Yes, you should," she agreed readily.

"And that."

She didn't even dignify that with a reply, and instead went back to snogging Frank.

Lily made a face. "Can you two at least go somewhere else and do that? We've spent 10 minutes watching you two eat each other's faces off." Kate laughed as the couple exchanged looks, shrugged, and promptly headed to the dormitories.

* * *

><p><strong>Kate's POV:<strong>

Mother had always hated quidditch. Maybe that was one of the reasons why I loved it so much. I'd sneak out of the house with Spence, while Mother wasn't home. He would cast a charm around the backyard to keep muggles from seeing us, and then he'd teach me to play quidditch.

Spence was the captain of the Hufflepuff team when he was still at Hogwarts two years ago, and he was the best Chaser I'd ever seen. It was only because Slytherin played dirty, and that Potter had the best Seeker instincts in Hogwarts that they would lose. I used to want to be a Chaser too, until I admitted that I always overshot the goalposts and Spence told me to try Beating. He said I was a natural. I watched him loop around the backyard with his perfect aim doubtfully, and when he saw me staring he grinned and told me to practice.

I've been sneaking out at three in the morning to practice until five for five years.

So here I was, finally trying out, because Spence had, in the end, convinced me. And I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life, even if I'd been more excited than Remus with chocolate about it last week. I had gotten there late, because Gid had said that the Beater tryouts would go last. What shocked me more than Potter beating all the 7th year Seeker tryouts was that there was a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed girl sitting on a bench waiting for Chaser tryouts (which were second to last).

"Emmy!" I practically howled, and she looked up, looking less startled by the fact that I was launching myself through the air at her and more that I had even seen her. Strange girl, she was.

Still, she squeaked and jumped out of the way, effectively making me land flat on my butt. Which, you know, hurt. "Em, what are you doing here?" I exclaimed the second after I had yelped and sat down on the bench next to her.

"I- er, I thought about what you said yesterday, so I thought, 'why the hell not?' and decided to try out," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

I grinned triumphantly. "Hah! I knew it!" I crowed, and Emmy rolled her eyes at me.

"No, you didn't—"

"Brink! What're you doing here?" An arrogant, irritating, enraging voice that I knew all too well interrupted Emmy.

I whipped around and rolled my eyes, looking ridiculously like Emmy. "What does it look like, dumbass?" I growled, knowing he was only talking to me to provoke me.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Black smirked mockingly at me, and my eyes narrowed.

"Then you're beyond stupid, though I always knew you were," I spat, and turned away from him, giving Emmy a 'save me!' look. I knew that if I tried to get him to shut up I would probably start a fight, getting both of us in the chance of getting asked to leave, which would be bad for both me and the Plan. She sighed, and got up.

"Black, don't you have some practicing and flirting to do?" Emmy crossed her arms, as I polished my broom best I could.

"Probably, but antagonizing Brink is top of my schedule," he crossed his arms as well, giving her a cocky look. He didn't notice his slip until it was too late.

"Kate's more important to you than quidditch and other girls?" Emmy raised a delicate eyebrow, and in my head I cursed her for making it sound like he loved me, or something stupid like that. The mental images? Ugh. I think I just shuddered.

"What? I never said that," Black growled, and for once I agreed with him. Surely he never said that.

"You implied it," she told him snottily, and Black, having nothing to say that would not make it worse, snorted, rolled his eyes, and stomped off. Emmy huffed after him, and turned to face me. "What do you say?"

"Thanks for making him go away," I replied dutifully, though somehow I missed his ever-annoying presence. I quickly brushed the thought away angrily. Stupid raging estrogen needs to leave me alone. _Now_.

Just then, Gid's scarily loud voice echoed across the quidditch pitch, and all of us jumped, until we realized it was a Sonorus charm. "Chaser tryouts, get over here!" Emmy gave me a nervous grin before heading off.

"You'll do brilliant, Em!" I called after her, knowing that she really would. Merlin, she would be able to outfly Potter if she tried, judging by the way she escaped the boys' dormitories.

The next hour was devastatingly boring, sitting there and polishing my broom while waiting for Emmy's turn. When Potter turned up, Sirius decided to stay back (much to my relief). He gave me a charming smile. "Your pretty friend's doing pretty well," he told me, sitting down beside me, moving my broom aside. He didn't even ask.

I scowled. "I thought you had your sights on Lily," I accused him, snatching my Comet from his grasp.

He looked scandalized. "Of course I do! Emmy's beautiful and is a great person, but Lily's gorgeous in every single way possible." Potter paused for a moment, and added, "Well, and Remus wants Emmy too much for me to take her away from him, anyway. And Lily will always be the flower of my eye," he smirked, finding his not-at-all-humourous play-on words funny.

I must admit, I was surprised at his description of Lily. There was a moment of silence. "You really do care about her, don't you?" I asked him quietly.

"I love her!" Potter exclaimed, staring into my eyes with his hazel ones.

I was quiet for another while. "A lot of people think that the reason you were so infatuated with her was because you thought she was the prettiest girl out of the four you could never get."

"She is," he told me seriously. "But that's not the only reason I love her. Kate, I've had a crush on her since the time she sent me a Bat-Hogey Hex in the first year, and I've loved her since the Marauders and I played that prank on her, and she gave me that incredible Stinging Hex on my balls. Man, that expression on her face is still enough to make me—"

"That's enough," I commanded quickly, before I barfed all over his new quidditch robes. "I get it. You love girls that abuse you. You love Lily. You're whipped."

"I know," he sighed dreamily. I rolled my eyes, before I realized something that was of high importance in my mind.

"You called me Kate."

"That's your name, isn't it?" Potter grinned at me, amused with my reaction. I think I just stared.

"Well, yeah, but… I hadn't realized we were on a first-name basis." My face burned with embarrassment. Honestly, who said that to someone, anyway?

"You're my friend, aren't you?" Po- I mean, James asked, cocking his head to one side.

I paused. "Yeah," I finally smiled at him, and he very childlishly hugged me.

"Yay! Katy's my—" I rapped his skull hard with my Beater's Bat, and he yowled in pain.

"Call me Katy again, and your head will be the next Bludger flying at Doholov's face," I growled, naming the Slytherin Quidditch Team captain.

"Yes, Ma'am," he muttered, clutching at his head.

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" I threateningly raised my bat once more, pretending to bash his cranium with the heavy metal ball. He played along, cowering pitifully under my mock-fiery glare. I ended up accidentally hitting his shoulder and breaking it.

"OWWWWW!" He screamed, rolling around, and I angrily kicked him into attention.

"Shut up! And stop rolling the fuck around, you'll make it worse!" I sighed, and took out my wand. "Let's see now… _Scourgify. Brakium Emendo. Episkey. _And…_ Tergeo._" My four charms cleaned the wound, mended the joint, treated his cuts, and siphoned the blood away.

James stared at me. "Where did you learn that?"

I rolled my eyes. "We learned _Scourgify_ and _Tergeo_in our 1st and 2nd year," I told him. "Idiot."

"But what about that Brakim Emenda thing?" James was looking at me the way a 2nd year would look at a 7th year.

"It's _Brakium Emendo_," I corrected him prissily. "And I learned it myself." I didn't tell him it was practically one of my most used ones, after my evil hag of a mother would beat me. I had the feeling he wouldn't react well.

"Beater tryouts!" Gid bellowed, and I stood up.

"Sorry about that. Gotta go. Wish me luck!" Waving, I grabbed my broom and kicked off. Below me I could see him run to Black, say something to him, and wave at me.

I quickly assessed the other students that were trying out. Black, obviously, was there, but I ignored him. There was Dorcas Meadowes and her friend Emmeline Vance, Hufflepuff sixth years, both of whom I had Ancient Runes and Herbology with. Talking fervently with Xavier Smith was Larrius Vane. There were some other people I didn't really know from other years and houses, all gazing at Gid with some sort of reverent respect. James and Andrew Goldstein were the only 7th years there. Black was flirting with Emmeline, who was blushing redder than my best friend's hair. Which, you know, was saying a lot.

"You guys are in luck this year, 'cause the two McKinnon brothers have both graduated, so both the spots for Beaters are open!" Gid announced with a broad grin.

I swear I tried my best to listen to his next words, but the cocky Chris McLaggen was trying desperately to get my attention, while I was trying desperately to ignore him. Out of the corner of my eye, Black had paused his endless stream of pick up lines and was now glaring furiously at McLaggen. Perhaps if I could use this over-confident, too-eager git to my advantage…

"So, what do you like to do?" He drawled, eyes flickering to Gid as the captain watched Dorcas bat the Bludger at a series of targets which he conjured with his wand.

I gazed at him under my eyelashes. "Oh, you know. Anything… exciting. I love a challenge," I purred rather uncharacteristically, and hoped with all I had that it was convincing. McLaggen was too much of an idiot to tell.

He smirked. "Really. That's exactly what I would have said… where have you been all my life?"

_So corny. What a retard._ On a regular basis I would laugh in his face and said "hiding from you." This time, though, I had a bit of annoying Black to do. I chose between an equally corny answer ("waiting for you") and a slightly better but more suggestive one. The latter, I decided. "In a broom cupboard," I fluttered my eyelashes, simpering. The sharp intake of breath and a shudder let me know that I had succeeded. Smirking, I turned away.

I heard a loud _wham_, and I looked up to see Black hitting the Bludger very, very hard. How had he heard me? Extra-Sensory Charm, I realized. Well, all for the better, I suppose.

"Kate Brink!" Gid flashed me a smile that I returned. He was still my favored Prewett twin, since Fabian was a bit of a player. "Hit the targets, Brink. Go!" he used his wand to send a Bludger flying hard at me, barely giving me enough time to bat it away.

I had always found that using my anger towards someone fueled the power behind my Bat. Usually I thought of my mother or her stupid pureblood Zabini family, so naturally I used that same topic. Envisioning my mother's sneering face as she degraded my muggleborn friends and that lovely muggle neighbor who lived just down the street, I swung the bat around. With a _crack_ it smashed into the target, bouncing back. Gid moved the target quickly, and I tried again.

I imagined mother raising her wand and slicing my arm with a painful _diffindo_, and the Bludger rammed heavily into the target. Below me, Black was eying me disdainfully, and I was suddenly hit with a cartload of emotions. In my mind images of Black laughing at me, dueling with me, getting punched by me, tricking me, playing a prank on my friends and me, and getting me into detention flashed repeatedly as I raised my bat once more. His face was the only thing that was on my mind. Every angle, every strand of glossy black hair, every detail that was ever etched onto his face was clear to me. Stormy grey eyes bore into mine, and my bat came into contact with the Bludger.

The ball was flying across the pitch faster than I could have tracked with my eyes and broke the target straight through the middle, and disappeared into the forest far behind it with a mighty crash.

Silence settled in the quidditch pitch, and Black's face slowly dissolved into nothing but pride and a bit of guilt. Suddenly, I heard laughter. Gid was snorting and clutching at himself in his chortles, nearly falling off his broom in the process. My face flushed beet red as my bat hung limply in my hands. "Sorry about the target and the Bludger," I muttered, and raised my wand. "_Accio Bludger!_" Nothing happened. Gid laughed harder.

"It's- haha! It's not affected by _accio_, heheheh! Because there's always the danger that someone will use magic to guide it away, bahahaha! From a player, hee hee!" Gid explained between his laughter.

My aggressive and assertive side kicked in. "What's so funny, pray tell?" I snapped, glowering at the Captain.

"Your- your expression! You looked like you were about to slaughter something, or shag it to death!" He howled, and this time the rest of the Beater tryouts laughed as well.

My face burned. "Shut up!" I growled, and Gid managed to restrain his giggles.

"Right. Good job, Brink. Don't worry about the Bludger, we'll get McGonagall to find it." He motioned me to fly back down and I do, avoiding a gushing McLaggen going on and on about my techniques. For some reason, I was afraid to look at Black. Would he knew that he was the reason I could hit it so hard? Sure, it was because I was imagining hitting his face with the Bludger, but I didn't want him to know that it was he who helped me, at least in some way. So, keeping my eyes down, I hurried towards Emmy who was beaming happily at me. "You were fabulous, Kate! How did you learn to hit like that?"

I gave her a vague answer and scuffled to the changing rooms, hoping to clear my confused mind with the warm water of a shower.

**Please don't think that I just like criticizing my chapters, alright? I just really think that this chapter was horrible because I was lazy and unsure of what to right. If you're mad about the chapter, I'll understand. **

**Besides having the actual prank, this chapter was really just to demonstrate the effect Sirius can have on Kate, so I decided to do this in her POV. Also, it was to show how much like brother and sister James and Kate really are. Oh, and how pro she is at Beating. Yeah. :D**

**See ya later, my little Marshmallows…**

**~Fflight**


	7. Good Day, Bad Day

**Out of My Life, Chapter 6 – Good Day, Bad Day**

**Summary: **Kate Brink has hated Sirius Black almost all her life, and she wishes that he never came into her life. But sooner or later Kate has to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get him out of her life. Full summary inside.  
><strong>Full Summary: <strong>Kate Brink is the arch nemesis of Sirius Black, and is almost as bad as the Slytherins, which is saying a lot in his eyes. Sirius Black is the arch nemesis of Kate Brink, and is almost as bad as her mother, which is saying a lot in her eyes. She has hated him almost all her life, perhaps even more than her best friend Lily Evans has hated James Potter. And perhaps even more than her other best friend Emmy Parsons has hated cotton balls. But even Kate, one of the two smartest people in her house, has to take a while to realize that however hard she tries she just can't get Sirius Black out of her life.

**Disclaimer: **I own Kate Brink, Emmy Parsons, Selena and Serena Nevine, and anybody not in the HP series ONLY. The rest of the characters belong to JK Rowling, and so does everything else in the Potterverse.

* * *

><p>Gideon Prewett came into the Common Room with a horde of people stampeding after him, James Potter and Sirius Black among them. The quidditch captain looked reasonably irritated. "Calm down, or I won't post the results!" He finally shouted, glaring at all of them, and in an instant the crowd shut up.<p>

Lily was curled up in her favorite armchair and was reading her favorite Jane Austin book when she looked up and realized what was going on. The final list for the Gryffindor Quidditch team was in Gid's hand, and Lily, having no particular interest (or skill) in the sport, shrugged to herself and went back to reading. Until she realized who _did._

She jumped up and raced up to the girls' dormitories. "Kate! Emmy!"

Meanwhile, Kate was taking a soothing shower after a stressing day of classes. History of Magic was simply horrible: Not only did she fail to stay awake, she was the only student (in twenty-six years, according to Remus) to get caught by the ghostly Professor Binns and get twenty points taken from Gryffindor. After that, she found that she could not complete even the simplest tasks in Potions. Kate ended up with many cuts, gashes, burns, boils, and blisters on her hands by the end of the period. She and James' potion blew up in Slughorn's face and they both promptly received a 'Troll', plus a lecture from Lily. Even her best classes, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, were far from being good. All in all, it was a dreadful day.

So she was understandably not very pleased when a screaming redhead burst into their room and rudely disrupted her relaxing shower.

"Kate! Emmy!" Lily called loudly, and Kate heard a muffled, annoyed complaint, undoubtedly from Emmy, who was (for once) trying to finish a Transfiguration essay with Alice's help.

"In here!" Kate called. "Taking a shower!"

"Obviously, what else would you be doing in there?"

"… Going to the bathroom?"

"You went before I left for the Common Room, why would you need to go again?"

"… Damn it."

Kate could hear Lily rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I thought you'd like to know that the tryout results have been posted. For quidditch, I mean."

There was a pause, and then Kate and Emmy shrieked at the same time. "WHAT?"

"DID I MAKE IT?"

"DID YOU GET A LOOK?"

The door slammed shut and Kate knew that Emmy had abandoned her essay for the results. After all, who wouldn't? Lily, maybe, but definitely not any sane person.

Kate, thankfully having already rinsed the hair conditioner out of her dark locks, stopped the flow of the shower with a flick of her wand which was lying on the counter, and hopped out of the stall. She used a strong Hot Air Charm to dry her hair and body, and then got stuck on untangling her hair. Kate rushed out of the bathroom, still in her underwear, and searched frantically for something to wear. She pulled the shorts and tank top on, and ran for the door… only to be met by Lily and Alice's wand-tips.

"Er, what are you two doing…?" Kate stared in surprise, and the two girls simultaneously uttered a stream of spells. Kate jumped back and tried to shield herself when she realized that her hair was now untangled, soft, smooth, and straight. She grinned sheepishly at Lily and Alice. "Thanks." With that, she shoved her two friends roughly out of the way and sprinted downstairs to the Common Room.

"We got in! We got in!" Was the first thing she heard, and it was Emmy screaming into her ear.

"What?" Kate pushed Emmy away and went to see for herself, weaving through the throng of eager students. Wolf whistles and catcalls followed her, and it was then that she realized how scantily clad she was. She had really thrown on the first thing she had seen, and now all that was covering her body was a thin white tank-top (unfortunately, her bra was black) and tiny denim shorts. Kate's face flushed a dark crimson, but her excitement to see the results were too much; she brushed it away and found the piece of parchment magically stuck onto the notice board.

_Gryffindor Quidditch Team_

_Keeper: Alexander Wood_

_Seeker: James Potter_

_Chasers: Emmalyn Parsons_

_ Alexa Bell_

_ Gideon Prewett_

_Beaters: Sirius Black_

_ Caitlyn Brink_

Kate's jaw hit the floor. Actually, no: her jaw went through eight floors and hit the dungeons, where the Potions classroom was. "Oh, my Merlin. Oh, my Merlin," she whispered. Her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes stretched wide. She whipped around and saw Remus grinning broadly, and Kate jumped at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him hard. "I made it! I made it!" She was yelling joyfully. Behind him, Sirius was glaring at Remus' back and James was laughing. Kate spotted James and ran to him as well, knocking the werewolf to the floor.

"James! Oh, my Merlin! We both made it!" She hugged him as well, kissing him on the cheek in her elation. He went bright red but still beamed at her nonetheless.

She turned and saw Sirius. Her smile didn't fall, though her body tensed. Kate stuck out her hand, and Sirius slowly took it. "Congratulations." She shook it, and then let go quickly.

Kate spotted Emmy jumping up and down with Alexa Bell, a talented chaser in the year above them, and threw herself onto her blonde best friend with a shriek. "We got on the team!" She squealed, and Emmy laughed and hugged her back.

"We did!" She agreed, and the two girls linked arms and did a little victory dance, both of them tripping over themselves in their giggles.

Suddenly, Kate's day wasn't so terrible anymore.

* * *

><p>Kate exchanged smirks with her friends as they made their way down to dinner in the Great Hall. "You all remember the plan, right?" Lily murmured quietly, and Kate rolled her eyes.<p>

"Do you have to say that every time? We've all had the plan drilled into our brains five times a day for the past two weeks, Lils." Kate glanced around to check that nobody was listening in, and then looked upwards to see if Peeves was lurking in the corners of a ceiling.

Emmy and Alice laughed. "She's right," Alice grinned at Lily. "We know Plan A. And Plan B."

The four arrived at the Great Hall, and exchanged looks once more before sitting down at the side farthest away from the Marauders. They took their food calmly, and ate, talking animatedly for five minutes before Lily, after making sure there was nobody looking, cast '_Wingardium Leviosa' _and levitated the golden tube of lipstick to their the first Sirius-obsessed girl she saw.

Kate, seeing who it was, held back her laughter, and pointed her wand discreetly under the table at the girl, whispering under her breath, "_Confundus." _Marlene McKinnon, with a slightly dazed expression on her face, ducked under the table and picked up the lipstick by her feet, and slathered some sloppily all over lips. Kate frowned and strengthened the concentration and power behind the charm. Marlene smiled at her friends, got up, stumbled a bit, and made her way to the Gryffindor table. She tapped Sirius on the shoulder, and when he looked up, smirked, and said something. Marlene rolled her eyes, grabbed Sirius with surprising strength, turned him around, and kissed him hard on the mouth.

Kate realized that the lipstick wasn't getting in his mouth, so she made Marlene pull away, lick her lips, and plunge her tongue inside Sirius' mouth. Satisfied, Kate released Marlene from the spell, leaving the girl to realize a moment later what she was doing and jump away with a horrified expression on her face, running back to the Ravenclaw table.

An embarrassed flush warmed Kate's cheeks when she realized that she had been imitating the movements of Marlene's mouth and tongue in her concentration, and her friends were laughing at her. "Shut up," she grumbled, but the corner of her lip twitched as Kate imagined what she must have looked like. She saw Sirius narrow his eyes suspiciously, and she flashed danger colors on the rings. The four friends simultaneously began talking and laughing about the time Kate had detention and Slughorn slipped and fell on the freshly scrubbed floors of the potions room. She had received another two weeks worth of detention.

Dinner was almost over and the effects of the potion would start to show, and Kate knew they wouldn't be able to pretend to not have a part in the prank. She got up. "I'm way too full, and I've still got McGonagall's essay," she announced loudly, but Lily understood what she meant.

"It wouldn't hurt to study," Lily agreed, standing up as well.

Emmy, catching on, rolled her eyes. "Lily, I think all you do is study."

"And all _you_ do is not study," Alice smirked, climbing out of her seat and making her way to the staircase with the other girls.

Emmy couldn't deny that, and laughed with her friends. "Touché," she said, grinning.

And Kate, imagining what her arch enemy would look like after the potion had been properly triggered by the lipstick, smiled widely. Her day was just getting better.

* * *

><p>Kate was curled up next to Lily with a Muggle novel in her hands, called "The Tale of Two Cities", by a bloke named Charles Dickens, when Sirius stormed into the Common Room in such fury that his face was as red as Lily's hair.<p>

"Padfoot, what's wrong with—Oh, Great Merlin," James gaped, catching sight of his puke green, greasy, sticky hair. It was

"Padfoot, calm down." Remus stood up to cool Sirius down but the dog animagus glared so intensely at Remus that the boy stopped in his tracks.

"I WILL NOT FUCKING CALM DOWN!" He bellowed, and whipped his head around to glower at Kate, who had pretended not to notice. "BRINK!"

"Yes?" She smiled sweetly, glancing up at him. "Good Lord, what did you do with your—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sirius raged on. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT, YOU BITCH?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Kate faked innocence, sitting up and closing the book in her lap. She was surprised and somewhat proud to realize that she had not ever seen Sirius this mad before, and that it was her who had managed to do it.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I FUCKING MEAN! I MEAN THIS!" Sirius pulled so hard at his hair that a clump of it fell out, but he was too irate to care.

"Don't pull your hair out like that, you'll lose all of it," Kate shook her finger at him, as if he was a little boy, her tone conscending.

Sirius' voice turned a deadly quiet, and when his stormy grey eyes met Kate's amber ones she flinched, but ever so slightly that only Lily who was sitting next to her heard her nearly silent sharp intake of breath. "This is my reputation," he hissed, fists clenching and unclenching. "My hair and my reputation are _not_ okay."

Kate faked shock. "Oh, Merlin, your _reputation?_ I would _never _have done it if I knew it was your _popularity_ at stake," she gasped, her hand at her chest, and Lily giggled a bit. Kate's eyes grew serious. "You know you had it coming. You made everyone think we slept together—"

"This is my _hair_, Brink!" Sirius interrupted, glaring at her.

"And that was my dignity! I _know _it's your _hair,_ you blithering idiot!" Kate spat. "You care so much about your stupid playboy reputation you can't see that what you really are is a _man-whore_!"

Sirius' eyes darkened and he stepped toward her, his voice dripping with hatred and venom. "I _hate_ you, Brink. You _disgust_ me, and I wish you were just dead."

Kate's head suddenly rushed with so many emotions that she wasn't sure which one to listen to. In all their fights and arguments, he had never said he hated her, or wished she were dead, she realized vaguely. Her eyes flashed with shock and something else, but it quickly disappeared as she regained control. She stood up, her face hard and cold. "Do you now?" Kate said, her eyes so ice cold that James behind Sirius shivered. Remus stared in surprise, anger, and pity. "Well, good for you. The feeling's mutual." She walked right past him, pushed Remus out of the way, and stalked out of the Common Room. And that joy from pulling a successful prank and becoming a Beater of the Gryffindor Quidditch team vanished faster than it would if someone used "_Evanesco"_ on it.

There was a tense silence in the room, and then Lily stood up, walking towards the stock-straight Sirius in the middle of the room. She promptly struck him so hard across the face he staggered to the side, clutching at his cheek and eye. When James quickly got up to help his friend Lily fixed him with a look so severe he stopped right in his tracks. "Don't you _dare_," she snarled, and ran after her friend. Emmy rose, from her seat, kicked Sirius in the stomach, sending him bending over in pain, and sprinted after Lily. Alice, who was too kind to do such a thing, just gave Sirius a glare so full of fury that Sirius took a step back. Sweet, little Alice looked more deadly than Lily at the moment, and that was saying something. She turned and dashed after her friends.

* * *

><p>Remus grabbed Sirius' arm, and began to drag him up the stairs, his features rigid with anger. James, bewildered, followed his friends up to the boys' dormitory. Remus healed Sirius with two flicks of his wand and pushed him into the corner. "I'm going to leave you there," he growled at him, his wand pointing at his face. "And I'm going to have you think of what you did. You're going to realize something, and I'm going to come back, and say several things to you." Remus was dead serious, and Sirius was very, very confused.<p>

"Er, what?"

Remus' face turned bright red. "YOU HURT HER!" He roared, and Sirius flinched at the furious Moony. He didn't usually get angry, but when he did, it was frightening to watch.

"YOU SAW WHAT SHE DID!" Sirius shouted back after he had recovered.

"AND I SAW WHAT YOU DID AS WELL!" Remus yelled, and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pressing him against the wall. "You saw that look in her eyes, Sirius," he whispered, using his real name for the first time in ages, and Sirius knew that Remus meant business. "She was shocked and injured, instead of angry. You hurt her in a way nobody else could have, and that's not okay with me."

"Why the hell do you care, anyway?" Sirius snapped, pushing Remus back and pulling out his wand in case he flew at him again.

"Because you do!" Remus' eyes flashed. "You don't know it, but you care for her! You like her!"

"Don't tell me who I like or not!" Sirius barked, pointing his wand at Remus, who raised his own wand. "Why are you protecting her?"

"She's my friend as well!" Remus growled, and opened his mouth to utter a spell at the same time as Sirius did. Sirius was faster, and James jumped into the middle of the two before it hit Remus and cast a shield charm. The Stunning Spell ricocheted off the wall and hit a glass of water, which exploded.

"You're on _his_ side?" Sirius exclaimed disbelievingly. "You're choosing him over me?"

"Padfoot, listen to yourself!" James said in exasperation.

"No, Prongs, _you _listen to yourself! It was her fault! _She_ did that stunt with my hair!"

"She had every right to!" Remus snapped. "The underwear prank was bad and—"

"You participated in it, you retard!" Sirius exclaimed, and Remus looked so enraged James was afraid that he would combust.

"That's because this would be your reaction if I didn't, and I'm almost as much as a coward as you are!" With this, Remus turned and marched out of the room.

James sighed, removed the shield, and gave his best mate a sad look. "Please, Padfoot. Just… please." He lowered his wand, and slowly followed Remus out of the dormitories, leaving Sirius alone in the middle of the 6th Gryffindor Boy's room, not sure what to feel.

* * *

><p>Kate ran right after she left the Common Room. She ran, and ran, and ran until she reached the Room of Requirement. <em>I need a place where nobody else can find me,<em> Kate begged of the Room, and after a couple seconds a little wooden door swung open, revealing a little cabin on the beach. She flung herself at the tiny couch, curled into a ball, and cried. Kate didn't know why, but Sirius' words had hurt her in a way nothing else had ever wounded her. The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice… the overwhelming feeling of despair clenched her heart and Kate cried until her eyes grew tired and she drifted off to sleep, holding her stuffed black dog to her chest.

The next morning she woke up at five-thirty in the morning, feeling determined to give Sirius a treatment that she thought worked best for her and ticked him off as well: The Silent Treatment. Old school, but still very effective. Smiling slightly, she put on a happy face and sneaked out of the Room of Requirement, leaving her stuffed dog behind. Kate put a Disillusionment Charm on herself and sneaked into Gryffindor tower, waking up a disgruntled Fat Lady with "Dragon eggs" and made her way silently to her bed in the Girls' Dormitories.

It was seven in the morning when Kate 'woke up' and faked a yawn like the one that she made every morning, climbing out of bed and shook Emmy awake. "Em, wake up. Lily's already in the shower!"

The blonde shot up instantly at her voice and stared. "Where the hell were you last night?"

Kate grinned. "I would have blown off Black's head if I didn't leave, so I left to the Room of Requirement," she laughed. The truth wasn't all too far away- but it was _her_ head that would have blown off if she had stayed any longer. "I exploded some things and sneaked to the Kitchens to get some food, and came back, but you were all asleep," she explained, lying easily through her teeth, the guilt running through her.

"Oh." Emmy sat there, absorbing the information, wondering whether she should believe it or not. Going with the fact that she hadn't known Kate to lie to her, she accepted it. "Okay."

There was an uncertain silence, and Alice got up. The two heads turned at the sound, and both split into wide smiles at the sight of their other best friend: One real, one fake. "Lissy!" Kate grinned.

"Kate! Great Merlin! When did you get back? Are you alright?" Alice immediately ran out of bed, her short black hair bouncing on her neck.

Kate laughed. "I'm fine, I swear," she assured her friend. "I vented my anger on some unfortunate fake Blacks in the Room of Requirement." She smirked.

Alice giggled. "I'm glad you're okay." Lily stepped out of the shower, steam floating out. The redhead froze.

"Hi, Lily," Kate greeted her. "Didn't you see me in bed when you woke up?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I saw you sneak in at five-thirty in the morning," she told Kate suspiciously.

"I thought you got back last night!" Emmy exclaimed, and crossed her arms.

"I meant this morning, sorry," Kate grinned sheepishly, trying to hide the panic. "I guess I didn't notice how long I was spending in there."

"In where?" Lily said sharply.

"The Room of Requirement," Alice answered for Kate. "She was destroying some Black dummies in there, she said."

"Thank you, Alice," Kate smiled, avoiding Lily's penetrating gaze. Lily was her oldest friend – she and Jean Granger had been Kate's best friends in Muggle primary school. Only a tiny portion of Kate's lies had ever gone past the ginger prefect. There was a small chance that it would now.

"I see," Lily said finally. "Well, go and take a shower, Kate. You're next on the schedule." In the middle of their first year, Lily had made a shower schedule to prevent them fighting over their washing rights in the morning.

Kate gave Lily a grateful look, and, grabbing a clean set of robes, she ran into the bathroom as Emmy got up and stepped into the other one.

* * *

><p>When the Gryffindor 6th year girls made their way to the Common Room with Kate desperately hoping that Sirius wasn't there, they were immensely happy to see Remus Lupin sitting at the other side of the room from the fireplace, away from his usual spot. "Remus!" Kate exclaimed happily, and Lily beamed at her friend. Emmy offered a "Morning, Remus," and Alice bounced over to sit down. The other three quickly crossed the room and plopped down around him.<p>

"Kate," Remus began, chocolate brown eyes meeting her amber ones, "Are you alright? Are you—you know, after—"

"I'm fine, Remus, I swear." Kate smiled softly at him. "Don't worry about me."

He cocked his head thoughtfully at her for a second, before nodding. "Okay," he said simply, and Kate grinned.

"So, how's the schoolwork been for you?" She asked conversationally.

Remus groaned. "Horrible," he sighed, and Lily nodded her head in agreement. Kate looked bemused.

"Horrible? It's only the third week of school, for Merlin's sake! Why would it be horrible?"

"NEWTs," Lily and Remus explained at the same time.

Kate stared. "They aren't for another eight months. Why the hell are you studying for them?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "They aren't called the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests for no reason, you know," she told her friends importantly. "It'd do good to study early."

Alice giggled. "Not that you ever study, Kate," she commented, and everybody but Kate laughed.

"I study! Well, two days before the exams, but I get O's and E's!" Kate protested, crossing her arms across her chest. She shot a smirk at Emmy. "Unlike Miss Emmalyn over there, who doesn't study, period."

Emmy sat up straight. "I've gotten straight O's for D.A.D.A for five years now, thank you very much!" She exclaimed hotly.

Lily looked reasonably put out after that. She'd always gotten E's for those, never O's for their practical exams in D.A.D.A.

**Kate's POV**

I smirked at Emmy. "Unlike Miss Emmalyn over there, who doesn't study, period." I knew how much she hated her name Emmalyn, just like how I hated my Caitlyn.

She sat up straight indignantly. "I've gotten straight O's for D.A.D.A for five years now, thank you very much!" She exclaimed hotly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily pout slightly. She wasn't the best at practical exams though she did great with the written exams in Defense. She had never gotten past an E for the practicals.

Just then, James and Black descended the stairs to the Common Room, with a sleepy Peter trailing behind them, rubbing his eyes groggily. Did he never get enough sleep? Or eat enough food, for that matter?

James and Black stared at me for a second or two before they snapped out of it. Well, James snapped out of it. Black kept goggling with a weird look on his face. What an idiot.

"Kate?" James was the first to speak. I pretended to just notice them and turned around quickly.

"Jamesy-poo!" I squealed, and bowled him over in an overenthusiastic hug. We burst out laughing on the floor, and Remus seemed to find great pleasure in seeing Black's face twist in a scowl. Did they have a row or something…?

I sat up, grinning at James. With a sudden pang, I realized that I loved him like I loved Spencer… like a brother. My smile grew as I smoothed my robes. He returned the smile and got up, extending a hand for me. As he pulled me up, I could feel two glares directed at the back of my head. Turning around, I spotted them. Lily and Black. Lily I understood, no matter how much she denied it, I knew she loved James. But Black? Why would he be mad at me? Besides the fact that he hated me, that is. I flinched inwardly at his cold words yesterday evening. Brushing the memory away, I gave Lily an apologetic look, and stepped away from James.

"Run off crying yesterday, did you, Brink?" The arrogant voice was detectable from miles away. It took all my strength to give no reaction at all. I didn't even blink. Instead, I looked curiously at Remus' suddenly furious face, his usually soft chocolate brown eyes dark with menace. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Lily, Emmy, and Alice glancing at each other, confusion evident in their expressions.

"Can't answer me, for fear of bursting into sobs?" Black continued on. It really was hard, acting like he wasn't there. I giggled at Emmy's expression.

"You look retarded, Em. What's with that look on your face?" Of course I knew. She was just as confused as the most of them as to why Remus looked ready to murder and why I wasn't sending my best series of curses and hexes at Black. Only Lily and James at the moment looked like they understood. Stupid perceptive people. No wonder they were so great for each other.

Remus suddenly stood up stiffly. "Come to breakfast with me, ladies?" He forced a smile at the four of us girls. I exchanged a look with the other three, and we simultaneously nodded.

"Gladly," I curtsied deeply, giggling. "Come along, Jamesy, Pettigrew!" I grasped the two boys' wrists, dragging them out of the Common Room, with Remus and the girls laughing and running to catch up to me.

Peter squeaked, looking very frightened. "Where are we going?"

"The Great Hall, Pettigrew! Where else would we eat breakfast?" I rolled my eyes, finally letting them both go. The Gryffindor 7th years, minus Black, made our way, laughing and joking, to eat breakfast. I pretended not to know how much _his_ words had sliced me in half.

**Sirius' POV**

She hadn't even looked at me. And when she did, it looked like she was staring right through me.

It shouldn't bother me, but it did. I honestly had no idea why.

…

Okay, I did. But I wasn't about to admit it, not now, not to myself, because there was no way I could convince people that I _didn't_ feel attracted to Brink—

Don't even think about it. Seriously. Siriusly.

The rest of the day was simply horrible. I acted worse than usual, taunting her with my worst jaunts and insults. She didn't even seem to know I was there. It was like being in Prongs' invisibility cloak. Except that it was way worse. Especially in Transfiguration, when I thought that she _must_ crack then. After all, she was sitting right next to me, and would be my partner for the entire term.

Brink studiously took her notes, and did her work, and passed notes to James, and giggled at what he wrote back in return. The only thing worse than my jealousy (Of course, I had no idea why it was there in the first place; if I was only… the A-word to her, why would I be jealous?) was the fact that nothing worked. Because I was _Sirius Black_. Everything I wanted, I had. People, especially girls, melted before me.

Brink didn't.

**Oooh….. draaamaaa….**

**If you liked the drama here, you'll like the drama in the next chapter…**

****Overly excited squeal of a writer anticipating writing the next chapter****

**Whatever. This was the only chapter I'm at least half-proud of. I liked the fight, I liked the crying, I liked the ending, I liked Sirius' pain…**

**MUAHAHHA**

**Anyway, stay tuned, and review! It makes me happy, and happiness fuels my excitement for the Chappie 7, and that makes me post quicker!**

**Toodles, my faithful bunny minions!  
>~Fflight<strong>

**P.S. Oh yeah, and sorry the chapter's a little shorter than usual. I hope everything else made up for it. ^^**


End file.
